We must trust politicians to act

■ I have just returned from a trip to Dublin, a city blanketed with posters relating to the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. The slogan that provides the most food for thought is that declaring: “Sometimes a private matter needs public support.”

This statement is indicative of the importance of seeing the abortion debate in the context of its moral, religious and political contexts.

For generations, the teaching of the Catholic Church has been the ultimate voice relating to living out our lives. Religious, moral and political considerations were merged with the result that, with the increasing secularisation of the State and the developing awareness of the significance

of autonomy and personal responsibility in matters of morals, the Church began to have a precarious hold on our moral sensibilities.

What we now see is a tension between religious beliefs and the genuine commitment to morality, without reference to any particular religious perspective. Additionally, we are now seeing women dismantling the veil of female silence in a world dominated by male voices.

What seems to be less frequently confronted is the relationship between politics and morality. In a representative democracy, politicians are charged with the responsibility of determining the boundaries that protect us from harm. The current debate on abortion is taking place in an atmosphere where we must trust our representatives to interpret the voice of the people who, in turn, have the responsibility to exercise that voice.

Philip O’Neill

Edith Road, Oxford, England