The Irish Family Planning Association has said that more women may be travelling to the continent for abortions because of strength of the sterling currency.
Commenting on a small drop in the number of Irish women travelling to England and Wales for abortions last year, IFPA officials called on the Government to compile its own statistics on abortion.
A total of 6,490 women providing Irish addresses had terminations in England last year, according to figures released yesterday by the British Department of Health. This represents a drop of 135 on the previous year, the first time since 1989 that there has been a reduction.
Welcoming the figures, the IFPA suggested that the reduction may be caused by the fact that more Irish women are accessing abortion services in other European countries.
"Travelling to Britain for a termination is extremely expensive," according to IFPA chief executive Ms Catherine Heaney. "Some women now choose to travel to other European countries where they can pay for their termination in euro."
She said that access to the Internet and increased mobility among women "means that Britain is no longer the only option for those seeking termination services".
She also called on the Department of Health to compile its own statistics on the number of Irish women who seek abortions abroad each year.
This could more accurately measure "the success or otherwise" of the work of the Crisis Pregnancy agency in reducing the numbers seeking abortion services.
"This would require statistical feedback from all EU countries to which Irish women travel for abortion services," she said.
"Nonetheless at face value this decrease is a move in the right direction."