FG Minister of State to vote against repealing abortion Amendment

Fine Gael Minister of State for Finance Patrick O'Donovan has said he will oppose repeal of the Eighth Amendment.

Mr O'Donovan made his announcement on RTÉ's The Week in Politics on Sunday in advance of Monday's Cabinet meeting on the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.

A majority of the Fine Gael parliamentary party seem likely to support repeal.

Mr O’Donovan said he had been “tormented” in the run-up to his decision.

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“I will not support a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment based on the fact that I believe that it leaves too much uncertainty in relation to what is going to happen to the right conferred in 1983,” he added. “I have too much uncertainty in my own head at the moment . . . I am not asking people to agree with me.”

The amendment, inserted into the Constitution in the 1983 referendum, states: “The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”

Societal matter

Mr O’Donovan said he believed it was correct that a referendum be held because it was a societal matter. However, he said the proposal was to remove a right from the Constitution and replace it with an “unknown” piece of legislation.

“Where does the right conferred in 1983 go?” he asked. “Does it go back to the implied right that may have been there prior to 1983, or does it go altogether?”

Twenty-eight of the Fine Gael party’s TDs are undeclared, with 18 in favour and four opposed.

Fine Gael TDs who spoke to The Irish Times on Sunday were not surprised by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's comment, in an interview with BBC Radio 4 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, that he would campaign for the "liberalisation'' of Ireland's abortion laws. "It was always assumed the Taoiseach would support the repeal proposal," said a TD in favour of repeal.

However, there was some surprise he chose a BBC radio programme to make the announcement.

Another TD said some of his colleagues, who are still undecided, were waiting for the wording of the referendum. “Some are still testing the waters in their constituencies,’’ he added.

Most TDs in all parties say the issue is unlikely to significantly influence the majority of voters at the next general election.

“The abortion issue will be over by then and voters will be influenced by health, housing and the economy,’’ said a Fine Gael TD. “Right now, most of us want to see the back of the abortion referendum.”