The Government has set up a committee to draw up guidelines for implementing its abortion legislation. It is 
believed it will take at three months before the committee reports back to Cabinet.
The committee met for the first time this week. It is believed the summer holidays delayed the formation of the committee, the Irish Independent reports.
The legislation allows for abortion where a woman threatens that she will commit suicide unless abortion is permitted. There is no medical evidence to suggest that abortion is a treatment for suicidal ideation.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said the committee held its first meeting last Tuesday.
He said: “There are operational issues which need to be addressed before it can be commenced and the department is liaising with the HSE in this regard.”
These include the establishment of a panel of medical practitioners for the purpose of the formal medical review of pregnant women before they have their pregnancy terminated.
A panel of two psychiatrists and one obstetrician will have to assess a woman who is seeking an abortion on grounds of suicide.
Another panel will review the decision if the request is turned down.
There is also a need to draw up administrative facilities to enable the panel to perform its functions.
The committee has been asked to complete the work as soon as possible but no later than three months, which means it is likely to be December before it is activated.
The chair of the committee is HSE public health specialist Dr Declan Bedford.
The nominee from the Institute of Obstetrician and Gynaecologists is Dr Geraldine Gaffney, an obstetrician in University Hospital Galway, where Savita Halappanavar died from septicaemia almost a year ago.
Others include two perinatal psychiatrists – Dr Joanne Fenton of the Coombe Hospital and Dr Anthony McCarthy of the National Maternity Hospital in Holles St.