New figures show a decrease in the number of women giving Irish addresses at British abortion clinics last year.

According to new records from the British Department of Health, the number of women providing an address in the Republic of Ireland has reduced by 48% between 2001 and 2015.

The HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme is welcoming the decline and says crisis pregnancy counsellors provide free support to women in need.

Helen Deely is the head of the programme; “It paints a picture in so far as these figures reflect the women from Ireland who are travelling to the UK for abortion.

“So they are an accurate reflection of women who give Irish addresses abroad.

“We also have some data from the Netherlands, seeing the decline from 2010 to 2014 has halved for the numbers of people going to the Netherlands.

“Those numbers are very low, 16 people in 2016.”