Three students' unions have decided to abandon a nine-year court battle with the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child. The move was signalled by the Union of Students in Ireland when the Supreme Court made an order last March concerning the cost of litigation which began in 1989.
In that year SPUC sought an injunction to prevent the students' unions from publishing abortion information in their guidebooks.
The unions were the Union of Students in Ireland and the Students' Unions of Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin.
In 1992 SPUC was granted a permanent injunction by the High Court.
Last March the Supreme Court lifted the injunction. It ruled that SPUC should pay the cost of the Supreme Court hearing and that the student bodies should pay for the 1992 High Court case. Each should pay their costs for a reference which had been made to the European Court of Justice.
The USI yesterday refused to speculate about how much it would have to pay, but last March its president, Mr Colman Byrne, predicted the amount would be £60,000 to £100,000.
The student bodies had considered whether they should go to the European Court of Human Rights to seek their costs but had decided against doing so, Mr Byrne said this week.
"Today's student leaders have decided to finish the case and get back to their core activities of looking after students," he said.