The Irish Family Planning Association yesterday welcomed the Tanaiste's remarks apparently ruling out an autumn abortion referendum.
Mr Tony O'Brien, chief executive of the IFPA, said it was clear the type of referendum envisaged by the Government had nothing to offer.
The question was not so much whether there should be a referendum as whether there should be one of the type outlined in the report of the All Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution last year, he said.
"Such a referendum would not be capable either of addressing the fundamental issue or of commanding sufficient public support to produce any change in the current position," Mr O'Brien said.
"We welcome the Tanaiste's comments that that type of referendum is not to be held. It would be a fraught and destructive process which would only serve to return us to the position we are in now," he said. The Government should re-examine the broader range of options outlined in the Green Paper on abortion.
There was sufficient public support in the State to legalise abortion in certain circumstances, as shown by recent opinion polls, he said. Those circumstances included where abortion was necessary to save the life of the mother, including where there was a threat of suicide; where the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest; and where such foetal abnormality existed as to make life non-viable. He did not believe there was support for more freely available abortion.
Senator Des Hanafin, president of the Pro-Life Campaign, described the Tanaiste's comments as unhelpful and said he disagreed with her remarks that an autumn referendum could lead to a "bitter and divisive" campaign.
"The recent all-party hearings on the issue showed the capacity for a calm and responsible debate on the issue, where people could disagree without becoming divided," he said.
Senator Hanafin said he believed the public would take a very cynical view of any attempts to derail the referendum process at this stage, given the expectation that had been created that a referendum would take place during the lifetime of the Government.
Mr Eoghan de Faoite, a spokesman for the anti-abortion lobby group Youth Defence, said his organisation was seeking clarification from the Tanaiste about the meaning of her comments.
"We don't understand how the campaign would be bitter and divisive if a referendum is held in the autumn," he said. Youth Defence maintained its stance on the abortion issue and wanted to see a referendum which would place a "clarifying subsection" in the Constitution to put a total ban on abortion in the State.
The organisation would now escalate its referendum campaign and was confident the Taoiseach would deliver on his commitment to hold a referendum, Mr de Faoite said.