The Tβnaiste and PD leader, Ms Harney, repeated her view that the abortion referendum should not go ahead unless there was a consensus that it would be passed.

"I have stated in the House before, and it remains my view, that it would be unwise to proceed finally to a referendum unless sufficiently broad, middle ground support for the proposition is apparent," she said.

"The proposition has the potential to earn such support, if we proceed with a reasonable debate and if the issues are well understood by the public."

She was speaking during the final stages of the second stage debate on the 25th Amendment to the Constitution Bill, which paves the way for next year's proposed referendum.

She said her party had paid particular attention to the evidence heard at the all-party committee relating to the risk of suicide for women during pregnancy. Psychiatrists who had given evidence to the committee said it was impossible to predict reliably if somebody was likely to commit suicide, and in particular, if a pregnant woman was refused an abortion.

Ms Harney added that under the Government's proposal, a woman would receive all medical treatments indicated by her doctor and agreed by her during pregnancy. "Doctors will have more certainty. Women will have more confidence that their doctor-patient relationship cannot be interfered in by third parties seeking to make legal or constitutional points in the absence of clear law on the issues.

"There is now also legal certainty for the position of the morning-after pill and the use of intra-uterine devices. It was not sufficient to regulate the availability of the morning-after pill solely by virtue of licensing decisions of the Irish Medicines Board, acting in the context of inadequate statute law on the matter.

"Some people argue that we should leave things as they are, with no change in statute law and leaving the legal effect of the X case standing. The position would accept that the entirety of statute law in relation to medical interventions for women in pregnancy, the protection of human life and abortion should be as stated in Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act, 1861.

"I believe it is entirely inadequate to leave a 140-year-old, 19th century statute stand as the only legislation on these matters. For example, that law includes the penalty of life imprisonment for a woman who has an abortion in Ireland. But political indecision and inertia would continue to leave that as the status quo."

The Labour leader, Mr Ruair∅ Quinn, said he did not know how they had reached a situation where the Tβnaiste was prepared to support a referendum to repeal the Supreme Court decision in the X case. "What I do know is what the Tβnaiste would say if I were in her position proposing this amendment. She would talk of tragedy and betrayals. She would accuse me of being anti-woman."

Mr Quinn said he believed Irish women would not accept any proposals that accorded them less rights than they were currently afforded by the Supreme Court decision in the X case.