Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid
Martin met briefly at Government Buildings last night.
A spokeswoman for
the archbishop described it as a routine Christmas call that takes
place annually.
She could not say what was discussed.
Earlier it emerged that Dublin’s two archbishops differed in their responses to Government proposals on abortion legislation.
Church
of Ireland Archbishop Michael Jackson said his welcome for the
Government proposals was “not to stand against my four [Catholic]
colleague archbishops but to assert that public discourse [on the issue]
is important”.
Assessing ‘substantial risk’
The
“assessment of what is meant by a ‘substantial risk’ . . . in relation
to aspects of the life of the mother,” was what was important, he said.
Speaking
at the Black Santa appeal outside St Ann’s Church on Dawson St, where
he was accompanied by Dr Martin, he said the Church of Ireland position
was that intervention to save a mother’s life was acceptable where there
was a “strict and undeniable medical necessity” for this.
“That
has been the Anglican position and we stand by that,” he said. He was
“very concerned” that “people who are practitioners in the front line . .
. would have some sort of clarity”.
Dr Martin said Archbishop
Jackson “was talking about the type of discourse we need . . . I’ve
already said on a number of occasions it’s a sign of maturity of a
society that we can talk, and talk out our differences and that we do it
in a respectful way. It doesn’t mean that people water down views they
have.”
He said much of what Archbishop Jackson said “I would
share, but there’s a difference . . . The Catholic position is a very
strong one, about the equal right of mother and baby,” he said.
Asked
for his response to Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte’s surprise
at the vigour of language used by the Catholic archbishops in their
statement, Dr Martin said: “If you look at it carefully he said bishops
had a right to speak. It was different to an earlier statement he made.”
Dr Martin did not agree that the archbishops’ statement last Tuesday “was alarmist”.
‘Strongly held views’
Asked
whether it was appropriate of Bishop Leo O’Reilly to claim Government
proposals were “the first step on the road to a culture of death”, Dr
Martin said: “I’m not going to go and judge anybody else . . . People
have very strong views and they’re not ideological views. They’re
strongly felt views.”
A spokeswoman for Dublin City Council said
there had been “tons of complaints, by phone and by email” about posters
erected in the city by anti-abortion campaign group Youth Defence.
The
organisation placed hundreds of posters on lamp-posts throughout Dublin
on Wednesday night and yesterday morning showing a picture of a foetus
with a “Santa” hat and the words: “Enda all I want for Christmas is my
right to life”.
She said no permission had been sought to put them
up. They were therefore illegal and litter wardens had been instructed
to take them down.