CABINET HAS discussed the possibility of amending Ireland’s abortion
laws, according to Minister of State for Disability, Equality and Mental
Health, Kathleen Lynch.
Ms Lynch Tuesday launched a new report
which called for the immediate enactment of legislation “to clarify the
circumstances under which an abortion may be lawful”.
The
Your Rights. Right Now report, produced by a coalition of 18
non-governmental organisations and trade unions, said the Government
should address the recommendations of the European Court of Human Rights
in 2010 and the Constitutional Review Group in 1996.
“I do know
that this issue has been discussed already in Cabinet, because at the
end of the day we have a High Court, Supreme Court judgment coming down
the tracks at us,” Ms Lynch said.
Last December, the court ruled
Ireland had failed to properly implement the constitutional right to
abortion in the circumstances of the X Case, where a woman’s life is
deemed to be at risk.
The State has six months from the judgment date to
submit a plan to the Council of Europe outlining actions it intends to
take to implement the ruling.
The programme for government
acknowledged the ruling subsequent to the established ruling of the
Irish Supreme Court on the X Case.
“We will establish an expert
group to address this issue, drawing on appropriate medical and legal
expertise with a view to making recommendations to Government on how
this matter should be properly addressed,” the programme states.
Ahead
of the election, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore disagreed with Fine Gael
leader Enda Kenny’s analysis that the ECHR ruling on Ireland’s abortion
laws should be looked at by an all-party committee of the Oireachtas.
He
said the Oireachtas should bring in legislation to allow abortion in
circumstances where the mother’s life or health was at risk.
Mr Kenny
had stressed the court’s decision and the previous Supreme Court
decision referred specifically to the mother’s life.
Meanwhile,
the Your Rights. Right Now report has been submitted to the United
Nations as part of a review process under which Ireland and other states
will be examined in October by peers at the UN Human Rights Council.
The
report “identifies gaps in Ireland’s respect for a wide range of civil,
political, economic and social rights”, the authors state.
The
organisations behind the report are Amnesty International, Children’s
Rights Alliance, Dóchas, Educate Together, Free Legal Advice Centres
(Flac), Immigrant Council of Ireland, Integration Centre, Irish Congress
of Trade Unions, Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Irish Family
Planning Association, Irish Penal Reform Trust, Irish Senior Citizens’
Parliament, Irish Traveller Movement, National Women’s Council of
Ireland, Simon Communities of Ireland, Transgender Equality Network
Ireland, Disability Federation of Ireland and Union of Students in
Ireland.