The Government is coming under increasing pressure on abortion following a U-turn on the issue by Kerry South TD Mr Jackie Healy-Rae. Now the four independent TDs voting for the Government say their support is conditional on a referendum being held.
They recently decided to join forces to secure multi-million pound demands for their constituencies and are currently renegotiating deals for their continued support. Until now, it was only Mr Healy-Rae's three colleagues - Ms Mildred Fox, Mr Thomas Gildea and Mr Harry Blaney - who had been seeking an abortion referendum.
In an interview in August, Mr Healy-Rae told the The Irish Times that an abortion referendum was not on his agenda.
"I'll be putting no pressure on the Government, because there is no pressure on me. One woman in the constituency mentioned it to me twice, and nobody else." Yesterday he said he had "very firm claims" for a referendum to be put.
"I'm firmly of that frame of mind. I'm calling for a referendum, definitely. I never said that we shouldn't have a referendum. There seemed to be very little pressure on me, but somehow or other that has changed a good bit in the last six months. I'm hearing from people all over the country on this."
Mr Healy-Rae said he was not certain that a referendum would "sort out" the abortion issue. "I am wary of a referendum. What will happen if a referendum goes wrong, if it was lost?"
Like Ms Fox and Mr Blaney, he said he wanted any proposed referendum to reverse the Supreme Court decision allowing abortion where a woman was threatening suicide.
Mr Blaney said: "Anyone can come along and say that they are suicidal. You could have more suicides after an abortion rather than before it." Ms Fox agreed. "It has to be done in such a way that it could not be interpreted again in the same way as it was in the Supreme Court. Women who have had abortions are in a much higher risk group for suicide and women who are pregnant are lower."
The fourth Independent TD, Mr Gildea, was not available yesterday. However, he has said in the past he wanted a "properly worded referendum" in return for his continued support for the Government.
The TDs are still negotiating with the Government on packages for their constituencies in return for their vote. They have met a senior adviser and will meet the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, next month. Ms Fox said they met the senior adviser as a group for the first time.