Just months after DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson revealed that First Minister Dr Ian Paisley and the leader of the Irish Catholic Church Cardinal Sean Brady were united in opposition to abortion, a new Irish survey has found that three out of four Irish people believe the morning-after pill should be available from the local chemist, without prescription. Mr Donaldson revealed in the Irish Catholic newspaper recently that opposition to abortion was agreed as central common ground by Dr Paisley and then Archbishop Sean Brady at their historic meeting.
And the results of the survey, carried out by the Irish Pharmacy Union, come just two months after Catholic priests were ordered by the hierarchy to reiterate the Church's opposition to all forms of abortion, including the morning-after pill.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, issued the sermon guidelines to priests in which he urged them to speak out about "the defence of the value and worth of human life in the womb".
Entitled Blessed is the Fruit of your Womb, the letter highlighted the sacredness of human life at all stages of development.
The issue was discussed by the hierarchy at their closed autumn meeting in St Patrick's College Maynooth in October and led to an instruction to priests in the Republic and Northern Ireland to devote their Sunday sermons to denouncing abortion as a crime.
However, European-wide research indicated that one-in-five young people aged 15 to 24-years-old do not use any form of contraception, and over a quarter did not use it the first time they had sex.
And research carried out last year by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency found significant numbers of women aged between 17 and 25 had experienced an unplanned pregnancy.
Pharmacists have said that the morning-after pill should be available across the counter.
They believe many women requiring the morning-after pill find it hard to get an appointment with a GP at the weekend, when the pill can be needed.
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