We should be proud of the Eighth

■ The basic question underlying the debate regarding the upcoming referendum is clear.

Do we hand over to our legislature, the Dáil, the right to decide questions of life and death?

Do we ask it to be the tribunal which decides on when is it just to take away innocent life?

We would be asking it to take upon itself a responsibility that no legislature in modern times dared to do until the decision that was taken in Westminster in 1967.

Media coverage of the debate often characterises politicians as being uncomfortable in dealing with this “basic question”. I am not surprised. It is in the strict sense of the word “an awful” question, and they instinctively realise that what they are being asked to do is beyond their competency and jurisdiction.

The right to life of the innocent is the most basic human right. The only way as far as I can see that a polity can adequately defend it is by enshrining it in the fundamental legal document of the polity.

Guided by this basic statement, the politicians and each citizen working with them are called upon to build up a just society in which people are enabled to work for the common good while a fundamental right is respected.

I agree strongly with John Bruton’s statement that “Ireland should be proud of the Eighth Amendment”.

Let us keep it in place for the good of all.

Gerard Moran