The proposed constitutional amendment on abortion is "irresponsible" and, in one respect, "cruel and naive," the Church of Ireland bishop of Cashel and Ossory has said.
Bishop John Neill also criticised the "serious hypocrisy" in considering the right to travel, which would be confirmed by the legislation attached to the amendment, as "a solution for difficult cases".
Bishop Neill said he had enunciated some of his church's principles on abortion last autumn and had promised to give them more thought.
He had now done so and, while noting that abortion was "not a matter for merely individual choice" and that it "may and frequently does create as many problems as it purports to solve", he was opposed to the amendment for three reasons.
In the first place, he argued, it was irresponsible to tie legislation to an amendment which had not gained anything like general support.
"The position of the Church of Ireland over the years has been that this matter should be the subject of legislation and not constitutional enactment. Already we have seen that psychiatrists differ as to the validity of the threat of suicide as a ground for abortion.
"However, to criminalise those who would follow one particular option in this debate is both cruel and naive."
The second reason for opposing the measure was that it ignored the close link between body and mind which was "fundamental to the Christian understanding of a human being and to a holistic understanding of medical practice".
Finally, Bishop Neill said, confirmation in the attached legislation of a woman's right to travel only highlighted the "serious hypocrisy" of seeing this option as a solution to difficult cases.
"It is a refusal to face our own problems and implies instead that the more difficult issues can be dealt with in another jurisdiction."
He concluded: "The proposals will do nothing to stem the flow of women to abortion clinics overseas, far removed from the medical and pastoral help that they should receive."
