Taoiseach not to act on pledge over issue of abortion

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will not act on the issue of abortion during the term of the current Government, it was confirmed yesterday. A Government spokesman said it had "no plans on the general issue of abortion" despite Mr Ahern's assurance before the last general election that the matter would be addressed.

Speaking after the defeat of the 2002 abortion referendum, the Taoiseach said: "It will be the work of the next government to study and understand the results and implications of this referendum, and to act upon it."

However, Fianna Fáil and the PDs declined to make any commitment on the matter in their agreed programme for government, and Government sources now say there is no appetite for reopening a debate.

Meanwhile, the Government is refusing to be drawn on the question of whether it will oppose a case being taken to the European Court of Human Rights on the issue by three Irish women who had abortions in the UK.

"The Government will be awaiting that case and then respond in due course," the Government spokesman said.

The women, who are being supported by the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA), are unlikely to get a hearing date in Strasbourg for up to 18 months.

In the meantime, the IFPA is canvassing support from all the main political parties for the introduction of legal abortion services in Ireland.

Just two political parties, Labour and Sinn Féin, are supporting calls for the introduction of legislation.

The other main parties said they either had no plans to seek a change in the law, or had no position on the matter.

The Labour Party said it was committed to bringing forward legislation to allow for the termination of pregnancies in limited circumstances. These cover cases where the mother is at risk of suicide, where her pregnancy poses a risk of "significant injury", or if the foetus has no chance of being born alive.

The policy position was agreed at the party's ardfheis in March 2003 following the report of a sub-committee lead by James Wrynne.

Two years earlier, party delegates had passed a motion by one vote advocating the availability of abortion in the State on the basis of a woman's right to choose.

Sinn Féin said yesterday it supported the introduction of legislation giving effect to the 1992 Supreme Court ruling on the X case. A motion was passed at the party's ardfheis in March calling on its representatives "to pursue the Dublin Government" on the matter.

In a policy statement, Sinn Féin said it was "opposed to the attitudes and forces in society, which compel women to have abortions and criminalise those who make this decision. "We accept the need for abortion where a woman's life and mental health is at risk or in grave danger, and in cases of rape or sexual abuse."

Fine Gael, which along with Labour campaigned for a No vote in the last referendum, said yesterday it had no plans to seek a change in the legal position in relation to abortion.

This was despite a pledge by former party leader Michael Noonan in 2002 that Fine Gael in government "would legislate to reflect in statute law" the X case decision.

A spokeswoman for the Green Party, which also advocated a No vote in the 2002 poll, said yesterday it had "no policy position" on the matter.

The IFPA is seeking to meet the leaders of the main political parties in the coming weeks to seek further clarity on their respective positions.