Minister insists abortion legislation is constitutional

Minister of State for Finance Brian Hayes has insisted the Government is confident its abortion legislation is constitutional.

This follows former DPP Eamonn Barnes questioning of the suicide clause in the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill in an article in The Irish Times yesterday. Minister of State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton supported Mr Barnes’ stance, according to today’s Sunday Business Post.

However, Mr Hayes told The Week in Politics on RTÉ One that while he understood some colleagues had difficulty with the legislation, the overwhelming majority wanted to work with Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Health James Reilly to pass the legislation.

“We are confident the legislation...is constitutional,” he said.

He ruled out another referendum and said it was hard to know how many colleagues would oppose the legislation. “The great majority of colleagues will back this. If we see a number of defections on this I think it will be quite small.”

He said the idea of a review of the legislation, which has been called for by some Fine Gael opponents of the Bill, was “fanciful”.