- Justice Committee told there is no guarantee that report on Fatal Foetal Abnormality will be made public
- Failure to release the report would be detrimental to public confidence in Executive transparency
Doug Beattie MC MLA, the Ulster Unionist Party Justice spokesperson, has expressed his concern that there is no guarantee the report into Fatal Foetal Abnormality (FFA) will be released to the wider public.
Doug Beattie MC MLA said:
“During the Justice Minister’s oral evidence to the Justice Committee today the question was asked when the report into Fatal Foetal Abnormality would be released. In her answer the Justice Minister said that the report, which has been seen by the First Ministers as well as the Justice and Health Ministers was never designed and commissioned for public release and that there was no guarantee that it would be released.
“Although the Minister didn’t state that it would not be released, she did raise the spectre of concerns that this report might be buried if it does not come to a conclusion that is agreeable to the Sinn Fein/DUP Executive.
“I call on the First Ministers to guarantee that the report on FFA will be released for wider scrutiny regardless of what the Executive approach to the report is going to be. Failure to release the report would be detrimental to public confidence in the Executive and transparency in our accountable government.”