Sir, - It is disturbing to learn that the All-Party Committee on the Constitution should have formally accepted a submission on abortion from a foreign business venture, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service. Whether it has declared it or not, this organisation has a financial rather than an altruistic interest in abortion.
Just as objectionable is the allegedly "key" submission from the union group, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, apparently with the implied claim that the submission represents the views of 682,000 workers.
If the ICTU submission has been made and accepted on this basis, then it is a fraudulent one. No ballot of members has taken place, and the views expressed are no more than those of a majority of the leadership, at best.
The strong indication is that both of these "submissions" lack authenticity and are invalid. If either of them are indicative of the type of submission generally found to be acceptable to the Committee, it raises the possibility that a significant portion of this exercise is without genuine foundation. To base public hearings, with attendant media hype, on such an exercise would be to grossly compound this misleading of the public.
The Committee is out of order in accepting such submissions, and in providing them with a platform for promotion. Unless the Committee clearly rules these submissions out of consideration, it is my intention to challenge the proceedings in the courts. - Yours, etc., Richard Greene,
Roebuck Road, Dublin 14.