Full-blown Cabinet split over abortion damages Kenny

Stories about splits in the government are one of the great tropes of political journalism.

Sometimes reported splits are merely differences between ministers, the normal part of the deliberative process of executive decision-making.

Sometimes they are rows confected for political positioning, the better to define a policy, a message or identity.

Sometimes they are just invented. And sometimes they are real.

This one is real.

The differences between Fine Gael and the Independents on Mick Wallace’s Bill to allow abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality widened in the last week because the two sides had fundamentally different conceptions of the issue.

Fine Gael has been talking about the legality and constitutionality of the proposed Bill, about Attorney General Máire Whelan’s advice and the protocols required. Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s office especially has been talking about the way things are done, about proper process. If this sounds trivial, it is not – it is the scaffolding of our parliamentary system.

The Independents have been talking about core principles and fundamental beliefs, about the right to vote in accordance with their consciences.

Emotional substance

They have been deep in the emotional substance of the issue, while the Fine Gaelers have been pointing out – somewhat exasperatedly – the need for a logical process.

And because the two sides have been talking in different languages about it, the difficulties have mutated into a full-blown Cabinet split.

The Taoiseach says Ministers cannot vote for an unconstitutional Bill; the Ministers say they must vote with their consciences.

Contacts were continuing between Fine Gael and the Independents last night in an attempt to bridge the gap between the two sides. Sources involved in the process said a solution – or a compromise or a fudge or an agreement not to agree but not to worry about it – was likely to be reached at or before Cabinet meets today.

The most likely outcome is that Cabinet does not take a position and moves on. Neither side is of a mind to bring the Government down on the subject, even if it would hardly be the first time a government has fallen by accident.

If and when they get through it, the two parties to this Government would be wise to acknowledge lessons. They are still finding out about each other and establishing a way to work together. That this division has festered for a week suggests an under-developed – to say the least of it – system for troubleshooting problems before they arise.

If that is not fixed, and soon, you would wonder how they will deal with bigger problems.

The Independents have clearly some adjusting to do to the realities – and the legalities – of government. Independent Minister of State John Halligan declared in the Dáil that he did not care if the Bill was unconstitutional. It’s hard to remember a minister ever expressing such an attitude before.

Shane Ross suggested that while collective Cabinet responsibility was fine some of the time, it shouldn’t operate all the time. This is constitutionally illiterate.

But if the Independents are guilty of acting like the Opposition, Fine Gael has clearly not adjusted to the new realities of a minority Government either.

Last week, the Independents were willing to allow the Government to take a position in return for being allowed to abstain. It was the hard line from Government Buildings that pushed them into declaring their support for the Bill.

As a result of the split – however it is resolved – the Taoiseach’s authority is damaged. He pushed for an outcome and was unable to effect it.

The implications for the Attorney General are even more severe. She has given unqualified legal advice to the Government on a matter of constitutional importance.

The Government, assuming it fails to agree a position today, will have declined to follow it. The weight of all her future advice must be accordingly diminished.