A Fine Gael councillor says she is in favour of abortion up to 10 weeks of pregnancy.

Kate O'Connell has a son who was given just a 10% chance of survival when serious birth defects were identified at 20 weeks.

Pierce (4) now lives a normal life and is about to start school.

The Dublin Bay-South general election candidate says the fact that her options were so limited in this country was extremely difficult to deal with.

Councillor O'Connell says every woman should have the choice to continue with a pregnancy regardless of the circumstances, though with very strict term limits.

"For me it's choice - so you can tell now pregnancy, even with a test you buy in a chemist, you can tell two to three weeks pregnant on a test" she told the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk.

"So I would be in favour of the choice to be there with very strict terms limits - 10 weeks give or take - the exact eight to 10 weeks would be up to the medial experts".

"But in my opinion, about 10 weeks" she added.

On her own pregnancy, Councillor O'Connell said: "I suppose looking back at it, I genuinely thought it was curtains".

"I definitely had decided that if the child had a serious genetic defect, coupled with a physical defect - this was a case of no chance of survival outside the womb - and therefore I was prepared to travel".

When asked if she felt Ireland had let her down for having to go abroad, she said: "Absolutely - it was something that I had never considered before".

"I think the first thing is it has to be free of charge - as in access".

"I think it's barbaric that you'd have to travel", she said.

Listen to her interview below, which contains some graphic descriptions: