COALITION MINISTERS have moved again to ease tensions between Fine Gael and Labour over the abortion issue.
Fine Gael Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald and Labour Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte said everyone should wait until the expert advisory group appointed to make recommendations on the issue reports.
Minister of State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton said speculation from TDs and Ministers in both parties was “unhelpful”.
Their comments follow remarks on Sunday by Minister of State for Health Kathleen Lynch, who said she believed it would be “fairly certain” the advisory group would recommend legislation.
She also said there was “no point in putting expert groups in place if you’re not then going to listen to their recommendations”.
The advisory group was established in January by Minister for Health James Reilly after the 2010 judgment of the European Court of Human Rights that the rights of a woman with cancer had been violated because she had to travel outside Ireland for an abortion.
The 14-member group chaired by Mr Justice Seán Ryan will consider the judgment and make recommendations. A Department of Health spokesman said the report was expected at the end of September.
The Minister for Children said yesterday the group’s recommendations “would cover a wide variety of actions”. Ms Fitzgerald said “it’s important to wait and see what those recommendations are”, adding that Cabinet would consider them when it saw them.
Mr Rabbitte said “the expert group was set up with a particular task and I think we should do them the courtesy of waiting to see what it is they recommend and what their analysis is”.
Speaking in Brussels, Ms Creighton said: “We have to assess the policy orientation of the Government and I don’t think that individual Ministers or individual TDs [should be] coming out speculating before the Government has even arrived at a point where they’re debating these issues.
“We’re not debating them yet. That’ll come in due course. That’ll come after the expert group reports and up until that point I’m holding my counsel and I would expect other Ministers to do the same thing, quite frankly.”
Ms Creighton said she was “pro-life” but would not say if she would have any discomfort over legislation on the matter, insisting she would not speculate before the experts’ report was delivered.
The Fine Gael Minister of State was one of 15 TDs and Senators who at last week’s parliamentary party meeting expressed strong opposition to Dr Reilly over any liberalisation of the law.
The programme for government commits the coalition only to setting up an advisory group and considering its recommendations.
Labour Party policy, however, favours legislation to implement the X case ruling by the Supreme Court in 1992, that abortion would be legal where there was a risk to the life of the woman.
