Rift in Sinn Féin on abortion as Tóibín slams committee ‘bias’
A MAJOR public row has erupted in Sinn Féin on the issue of the Eighth Amendment.
Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín has been strongly criticised by two of his own parliamentary colleagues after he claimed the Oireachtas committee on the Eighth Amendment had shown a lack of balance in relation to its members and the witnesses it called.
“When you look at the balance of the members and the witnesses – 24 witnesses are pro-choice and four witnesses are pro-life,” Mr Tóibín yesterday told RTÉ’s ‘The Week in Politics’.
“I’m a chair of a committee. Even on issues I didn’t agree with I would make sure there is a balance of people coming before the committee so there is a good honest debate.”
Two members of the committee, Dublin Mid-West TD Eoin Ó Broin and Cork North Central TD Jonathan O’Brien, have strongly criticised the comments.
“The imbalance has been caused by pro-life groups refusing to appear before the committee,” Mr O’Brien tweeted.
“Don’t cry over spilt milk when you intentionally spilt it yourself so you can cry.”
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Mr O’Brien said Mr Tóibín was entitled to his views but that he was “not entitled to undermine the work of the committee”.
He added that many pro-life witnesses would have been accommodated, but they have refused to engage.
Mr Ó Broin also tweeted on the issue, accusing Mr Tóibín of aligning himself with Independent pro-life TDs and committee members Mattie McGrath and Ronan Mullen in “trying to undermine the work of the committee and the Sinn Féin representatives on it”.
Mr Tóibín previously lost the Sinn Féin whip for voting against the party on the issue of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill.