Over 2,000 attend anti-abortion rally

More than 2,000 people have attended an anti-abortion rally in Castlebar, Co Mayo.

More than 2,000 people have attended an anti-abortion rally in Castlebar, Co Mayo.

Pro-life group Youth Defence, which organised the event, said the rally was held in Taoiseach Enda Kenny's constituency to remind Fine Gael of its pre-election commitments on abortion.

Spokeswoman for the Mayo Life Network, Claire Philbin said Fine Gael declared to the electorate in early 2011 that they were a pro-life party who would not legislate for abortion.

"This promise most certainly contributed to their success in that election, where, for example, in Mayo alone they took four seats."

She claimed thousands of phone calls had been made to Fine Gael politicians in recent months about the abortion issue.

The Government has established an expert group to formulate a response to a European Court of Human Rights ruling which called on the Government to provide a legislative basis for the Supreme Court's ruling in the X case.