Tensions have arisen between the Catholic bishops and the AllParty Committee on the Constitution over the handling of public hearings on the abortion issue.
The Irish Times has learned that a spokesman for the Episcopal Conference of Bishops, Father Martin Clarke, contacted the committee last Friday to inquire whether the church would be invited to make its position known at the hearings.
The committee was charged last September with the task of reporting to Government on the Green Paper on Abortion, which was published last October. The committee received 105,000 submissions in response to the Green Paper, and invited a number of groups to public hearings during April and May.
While representatives from the medical organisations, the main maternity hospitals and the antiabortion organisation, Youth Defence, were invited, no representatives from any of the churches have yet been invited to present their considerations in public session to the committee.
None of the other churches has sought a public hearing. All have made written submissions to the committee, including the Bishops' Conference, the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Church.
The committee was given special status to allow the hearings to be held in public and that status ended on May 31st, when the committee heard a submission from Youth Defence. This was understood to mark the end of the public hearings. It was expected that the committee would set about drawing up its report for submission to the Government in September or October.
However, it is now understood that the Catholic bishops are concerned that the All-Party Committee would conclude its report without giving them a hearing. While the bishops made a detailed written submission on the Green Paper in which is said "no court judgment or act of legislation could make abortion morally right", it is understood the bishops want the opportunity to air that view in public.
Father Clarke said yesterday he sought clarification from the committee by telephone on Friday as he wanted to report to the Bishops' Conference which has its summer meeting in Maynooth this week.
"On the last day of our spring meeting, on March 15th, the Oireachtas Committee announced it would hold public hearings. It was unclear from media reports in recent weeks if the hearings were finished or not, so I just wanted to see what the position was before I reported to the Bishops' Conference this week. I needed to get clarification on what was the intention of the committee."
The chairman of the committee, Mr Brian Lenihan, told The Irish Times yesterday that it was always the intention of the committee to consult the churches before it concluded its report.
He said the committee would be discussing what form this consultation would take at a meeting tomorrow. "We have not yet determined how we will deal with the churches."
He said it may not be necessary to have the benefit of full privilege (such as applies to Dail proceedings) if it was decided to have a full hearing for church representatives.
Such privilege was needed for the medical organisations and representatives from the maternity hospitals who felt more comfortable given their views in those protected circumstances.
Of the 105,000 submissions, some 90,000 were petition signatures, while another 10,000 were made up of circular letters. There were 3,898 submissions from individuals or organisations.