Prof Mary McAleese's attitude to abortion "has not shifted one whit" since she voted to put the anti-abortion amendment into the Constitution in 1983. "I have always had, and maintained, a very strong commitment to the right to life of the unborn," says the presidential candidate for the Government parties, who claims she is being "pigeonholed" for her views on social issues in the past.
"It is a commitment that is no different from the vast majority of Irish people. It is a mainstream view so how it can be regarded as being right, left or in the middle I find it difficult to understand," she states.
In an interview in today's Irish Times, Prof McAleese says that everybody who voted in 1983 to put the anti-abortion clause into the Constitution was absolutely morally certain that they were copper-fastening the right to life of the unborn.
Then along came the X case, "and we realised that when you copper-fasten something you don't necessarily nail it shut forever. I think people are entitled to a range of views about how you protect the right to life of the unborn."
She denies that she would have any problem of conscience in signing any abortion legislation into law: "I think if a person felt there were likely to be issues coming forward which would present them with personal difficulties, they should not be running for the election."
Asked about her attitude now to Mr Charles Haughey, who added her to the Fianna Fail ticket in 1987, Prof McAleese states that to say she was disappointed would probably be an understatement. She sticks to the Fianna Fail line on Mr Ray Burke's resignation, but asked if she would accept £30,000 in a brown envelope towards the cost of her campaign, Prof McAleese says: "I'd be very wary of it, I'll tell you the Lord's honest truth. I certainly would."
Interview: page 14
