The motion was proposed by independent councillor Frank Durcan, a member of both bodies, and stated that the members, “resolve, in keeping with the will of the Irish people as emphatically expressed in the referendum of 1983, to oppose any form of legalisation of abortion under any circumstances.”
Proposing it, Mr Durcan said it is, “a humanitarian issue” and he was asking the council to, “guarantee the right of life from conception in the womb.”
Fellow-independent Gerry Ginty seconded, saying he saw, “the killing of any child as murder.”
Fianna Fáil whip on the council, Cllr Michael McNamara welcomed the motion and pledged full support, while Fine Gael’s Cllr Joe Mellett said he would have preferred to wait until the expert panel review group report was to hand, but added that his party has, “no problem” supporting Cllr Durcan’s motion.
When the council passed the motion without dissension, a group of pro-life activists in the public gallery applauded. When the same motion was put to members of Castlebar Town Council, Labour councillor Harry Barrett was the only member to oppose it.
He said he had, “a major problem” with the motion, in that the European Court of Justice had found in 2010 that Irish law breached human rights of a cancer patient whose life was under threat because of pregnancy, and an expert group was due to report on what action should be taken on foot of that decision.
Cllr Barrett proposed that Cllr Durcan’s motion be put aside until the expert group had reported.
This proposal failed to get a seconder from the other eight council members present but forced a vote on Cllr Durcan’s motion, which the council went on to pass by a margin of six to one, with the town’s mayor, Cllr Brendan Heneghan abstaining.
The two councils join county councils in Donegal and Monaghan who recently passed similar motions.