Taoiseach Varadkar should not be adding fuel to the fire
As the cabinet returned from their Christmas break on Wednesday 10th January, our Taoiseach announced to the nation’s journalists that he believed the proposal to make abortion on request legal up to 12 weeks may be “a step too far” for the majority of the public. Let’s review the chain of events for a moment. Following a full and frank investigation by the Citizens Assembly, the recommendation was to repeal the 8th amendment with additional recommendations as to circumstances. These recommendations proved difficult for our government to stomach and so the Joint Oireachtas Committee was subsequently assigned a similar task.
They came to an almost identical conclusion. If this exercise in deflection proves nothing else, it clearly demonstrates that when people are fully armed with all the facts, they will make the humane and sensible decision to repeal the 8th amendment. Rather than adding fuel to the fire, it would be preferable if Mr Varadkar committed to a reasoned, rational and fact-based referendum so the Irish people could use their vote as wisely as the Assembly and the Oireachtas Committee before them.