A COALITION rift over abortion was looming last night
as the Government finalised its response to a landmark European Court of
Human Rights ruling.
Ireland was given until June 16 to come up with an
action plan for legal changes that would make it clear when abortion
was allowed in the country, but some Labour TDs have expressed "concern"
at the way the matter is being handled.
While Labour fought the general election on the platform of bringing in legislation to deal with the aftermath of the X Case, during the Programme for Government talks the party and Fine Gael agreed to see the issue of abortion dealt with by a cross-party Oireachtas committee.
However, Labour TD Anne Ferris believes the Human Rights court will want something more substantial than that in Ireland’s response and has tabled a series of parliamentary questions on the matter.
A Fine Gael minister told the Irish Examiner the matter could only be dealt with in the cross-party committee, while another FG minister said he thought many of the party’s TDs would be happy to see the matter remain there.
Ms Ferris said the terms of the court ruling were so strong they could not be ignored any longer.
"I’m very concerned nothing has happened on this... The last government ignored this for 14 years, we can’t afford top do the same and we have to tackle it head on. This is not a simple issue and produces a lot of reaction from everyone
"Both the Minister for Health and the Minister for Justice are from Fine Gael, but I would not like to think the issue has been put on the back burner.
"The deadline is June 16 and nothing much seems to have been done about it.
"I would be disappointed if the response just points to the fact a committee has been set up," she said.
That view was echoed by chief executive of the Irish Family Planning Association, which took the original case to the ECHR, Niall Behan, who said: "Just saying you are setting up a committee, I don’t think that will be well received by the court."
The court’s December ruling called for it to be made clear when abortion is legal in Ireland.
The court found the rights of a Lithuanian woman, known only as "C", with a rare form of cancer, who travelled from Ireland to Britain for an abortion, had been violated.
The Department of Health said the deadline for a response to the ruling would be met, but would not elaborate on the details.
While Labour fought the general election on the platform of bringing in legislation to deal with the aftermath of the X Case, during the Programme for Government talks the party and Fine Gael agreed to see the issue of abortion dealt with by a cross-party Oireachtas committee.
However, Labour TD Anne Ferris believes the Human Rights court will want something more substantial than that in Ireland’s response and has tabled a series of parliamentary questions on the matter.
A Fine Gael minister told the Irish Examiner the matter could only be dealt with in the cross-party committee, while another FG minister said he thought many of the party’s TDs would be happy to see the matter remain there.
Ms Ferris said the terms of the court ruling were so strong they could not be ignored any longer.
"I’m very concerned nothing has happened on this... The last government ignored this for 14 years, we can’t afford top do the same and we have to tackle it head on. This is not a simple issue and produces a lot of reaction from everyone
"Both the Minister for Health and the Minister for Justice are from Fine Gael, but I would not like to think the issue has been put on the back burner.
"The deadline is June 16 and nothing much seems to have been done about it.
"I would be disappointed if the response just points to the fact a committee has been set up," she said.
That view was echoed by chief executive of the Irish Family Planning Association, which took the original case to the ECHR, Niall Behan, who said: "Just saying you are setting up a committee, I don’t think that will be well received by the court."
The court’s December ruling called for it to be made clear when abortion is legal in Ireland.
The court found the rights of a Lithuanian woman, known only as "C", with a rare form of cancer, who travelled from Ireland to Britain for an abortion, had been violated.
The Department of Health said the deadline for a response to the ruling would be met, but would not elaborate on the details.