Dáil’s debate on Eighth reveals level of division within parties
PARTY divisions on the abortion referendum were more evident than ever during a Dáil debate last night, calling into question its ability to legislate definitively on the issue.
A Yes vote in the referendum will see Article 40.3.3 – which gives equal rights to life to the mother and the unborn – removed from the Constitution and pass responsibility for legislation into the hands of TDs and senators.
And while the majority of politicians are in favour of repeal, there is little consensus among the major parties on following the 12week limits recommended by the Oireachtas committee.
Dissenting voices surfaced in SF
Last night, TDs from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin all gave contrasting views to their party colleagues. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have a free vote, but in Sinn Féin, which is bound by the party whip to support repeal, dissenting voices surfaced.
In FF, Defence spokeswoman Lisa Chambers and Wexford TD Mary Butler argued about whether the Oireachtas committee has been biased in its findings. Lisa Chambers, who sat on the committee, argued strongly against such accusations.
‘No evidence has ever been produced to back up the spurious claims that the Citizens’ Assembly or the Oireachtas committee were somehow rigged or biased. The reason no evidence was forthcoming is because those claims were ridiculous,’ she said.
Ms Chambers said it was ‘a cheap and lazy pot shot’ by people who she said did not like ‘what they are hearing’.
But moments later, Mrs Butler took to her feet to argue against her party colleague. ‘One has to be shown the relevant facts in both sides of an argument. When looking at the number of different witnesses who presented before the committee, there was a bias regarding the number of people who presented from a pro-life ethos as against a prochoice ethos,’ she said.
In Sinn Féin, Louise O’Reilly and Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire argued for repeal, but even the party’s whip did not prevent dissent from Peadar Tobin.
‘The right to life is one of the most fundamental rights there is,’ he insisted, after suggesting that poverty and inequality was the driving factor in women travelling abroad for terminations.
Even in Fine Gael, members spoke out against the proposals of their own government. Former Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett, who has so far kept his own counsel on the issue, urged voters to retain the amendment. ‘I am saying to the people: keep what we have,’ he said.
Fianna Fáil’s Dara Calleary, who is pro-life, dismissed claims the committee has been biased, but based his argument on the inability of the Dáil to legislate properly on the issue.
‘The certainty of protection for the unborn child and the mother in Bunreacht na hÉireann will be replaced by the uncertainty of subjecting it, or a future House, to the art of political negotiation which, by its nature, is uncertain and byzantine,’ he said.
Yesterday, Health Minister Simon Harris was upbeat about the chances of passing the referendum legislation through both Houses before the Easter break.
‘... I think if we can pass the bill through both houses of the Oireachtas before the Easter break, that would give the Referendum Commission a good period of time to run a public information campaign,’ he said.
‘Urging voters to keep what we have’