THE woman who alleges she had an abortion in a Dublin family planning clinic two years ago has received immunity from prosecution, according to Garda sources.
The sources say the woman sought immunity as a condition of making a complaint to the Garda as she would otherwise be incriminating herself by saying she had an abortion in this jurisdiction.
There is no provision in law for granting immunity from prosecution but, in practice, gardai will seek to offer such immunity if they believe a person's statement will lead to conviction for a greater offence. The Garda Press Office would make no comment yesterday evening on whether immunity had I been granted.
As details emerged during the day about where the alleged abortion took place, both Government and Opposition politicians were reluctant to be drawn on such a divisive issue in the run-up to a general election.
The Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, said it was a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions and any comment would be inappropriate. Government sources indicated that the Government would be most unlikely to do anything about the abortion issue at this stage.
A Fianna Fail spokesman said they had been discussing the abortion issue over a period of time "and we are in the process of establishing a small group of professional people to advise the party on all aspects of the issue."
The Progressive Democrats offered no comment. "We have not considered the issue in any detail," their spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, a director of the Marie Slopes Reproductive Choices clinic confirmed that the investigation into the alleged abortion, which was first disclosed in yesterday's Irish Times, centred on its premises which were raided by gardai on February 20th last.
"They arrived at about 11 am with a search warrant," Mr Frank Crummy told The Irish Times. "They were about two hours there, and they removed some correspondence. They questioned some members of staff and arrested and questioned one member of staff who is also a director."
Mr Crummy said the clinic had only opened in October 1996, and the alleged abortion was said to have taken place early in 1995
three years after the Supreme Court X case allowed for an abortion in defined circumstances. Prior to Mr Crummy establishing the clinic, the premises had been occupied by another medical practice.
He said he thought gardai were trying to prove that the clinic had a connection with Marie Slopes International, contrary to the Abortion Information Act which insists that Irish agencies giving information are separate from British abortion clinics.
"I had no worries about that. We have a close working relationship with Marie Stopes in England, but the only connection is the same name," he said.
Mr Crummy is a veteran of the family planning movement. He was a member of the Irish Family Planning Association when it was first founded, and was instrumental in setting up Family Planning Services some 25 years ago. He was involved in a Supreme Court action arising from the banning of a family planning booklet.
Members of Youth Defence have been picketing the Slopes clinic for the past five weeks, citing the connection between it and the Marie Slopes organisation in Britain.
Meanwhile, it is understood that a number of family planning clinics in Dublin have had clients who claimed to have had abortions in Ireland.