Editor’s note. The following is provided by the pro-life site Lifezine. “TD” (Teachta Dála) means a member of the lower chamber of the Parliament. According to Dr. Peter Saunders, the “X case” refers to a decision by Ireland’s Supreme Court that “abortion is admissible in the case of a ‘real and substantial risk’ to the mother’s life (as opposed to her health).” Fine Gael is an Irish political party.
Secretly recorded comments from two Labour TDs have revealed their party’s strategy to further loosen Ireland’s abortion laws once legislation for the X Case has been passed. One of them outlined a ploy of pretending that X Case legislation would be restrictive and that Labour had no further ambitions on the issue. This is precisely what Labour ministers are now doing.
Dublin North Central TD Aodhan O Riordain said the X Case legislation was only “a starting point” but added that he said he would not state this publicly, while Wicklow TD Anne Ferris said that attempts to widen the legislation would commence after the next election, should Labour remain in office.
“We will legislate certainly for what the European Court has told us to and then we can go further than that,” Ferris said, “we get the first part done and then we will go on to the next bit.”
In relation to the X Case legislation, Mr. O Riordain said: “It is a starting point. Once you get that . . . then you can move . . . and of course if I’m on the radio and somebody says to me, ‘It’s a starting point for abortion on demand’, I’m gonna say, ‘No, of course it isn’t – it is what it is.'”
The Labour TDs’ comments have outraged Fine Gael TDs and Senators, who are already fearful that the planned legislation is being driven by a Labour agenda and that Fine Gael concerns are being ignored. The most commonly expressed fear in Fine Gael is that legislating for the X Case will “open the door” to abortion on demand.
The Fine Gael Parliamentary Party will be particularly incensed by Ms Ferris’s recorded comment that Labour leader Eamon Gilmore had told the Taoiseach that Mr. Kenny “has to whip his people into line.”
Edited transcripts of the conversations, which were recorded at the TDs’ constituency offices last June, were published in the Sunday Independent.
A Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting last Wednesday night was dominated by the abortion issue and was described as “the most contentious within the lifetime of this Government”.
About a dozen members of the party, including junior European minister Lucinda Creighton, rebel Waterford TD John Deasy, and Dublin South TD Peter Mathews, spoke about their concerns about including suicide in the legislation. Since then, negotiations between the two parties have seen further concessions made to Labour’s demands.
The latest revelations will undoubtedly lead to more pressure on other Fine Gael members to oppose the X case legislation.
On the tape, Mr. O Riordain outlined some of the reasoning behind the formation of the Expert Group, which provided the framework for the X Case legislation. He said it would give cover to “76 anti-abortion Fine Gael TDs”.
He continued: “Unfortunately, the reality is that we have to give some comfort to government TDs on the Fine Gael side to be able to walk into Leinster House [where the Parliament meets] and vote for an abortion bill which would be in their minds political suicide for where they are from.
“But the expert group is the way to do that – do you know what I mean? Because they can say, ‘Well, the expert group told us to do it.'”
He also gave a contemptuous description of the people of rural Ireland and the TDs who represent them.
“I mean, em, you have to realise, em, somebody representing somewhere like Monaghan – now my wife’s from Monaghan – start talking about abortion rights in Monaghan and, you know, you don’t get too far. Or Donegal or Mayo or . . . you know.”
He added: “The idea of being a good [rural FG] TD is you go to Mass and you’re a good Catholic. You’re against abortion and you know . . . everything’s fine. .. It’s bizarre. You think Irish society has moved on.”
Pressed on tape as to how serious Labour is about the issue of abortion, Mr. O Riordain said that some within Labour were already talking about “breaking” ranks if Fine Gael refuses to act.
“We are already talking about breaking if it doesn’t happen, so they might break if it does,” he said.
He added: “I think the ABC case or X case wouldn’t do too much . . . but once you have established a principle then we will get there over time.
“But I’ll say this much, it’s never going to happen unless Labour are in Government. It just wouldn’t happen.”
Ms Ferris told the activist she found it galling not to have supported the Clare Daly bill, but said she was strongly urged by Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore’s appeal not to “break ranks” as it would give ammunition to those in Fine Gael who are opposed to legislating for the X Case.
“And this is what Eamon said to me, ‘If you break ranks now, it’ll leave it open in time for the Fine Gael party – when it does come back and we have the wording right and it is constitutionally okay – they’ll say, ‘Well look, some of the Labour Party broke ranks.’ But look, you can be absolutely assured of our commitment.
“We are 100 per cent.”