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ALAN SHATTER HAS said that a referendum needs to be held on the issue of allowing terminations in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities, rape and incest.
The former justice minister made the comments at a Dublin Rathdown constituency meeting this evening, just four hours after voting against Clare Daly’s Bill on the issue.
Earlier, Daly labelled the Taoiseach “a hypocrite” over his stance on the legislation. Enda Kenny said the bill, which was rejected by 104 votes to 20, was unconstitutional.
Speaking tonight, Shatter recalled opposing the inclusion of the so-called “pro-life” amendment in the Constitution in 1983, saying:
“At that time, I predicted some of the possible consequences of its inclusion in our Constitution and, unfortunately, over the years, some of the predictions made by me have been proved right.”
Shatter reiterated comments he made during the debate on the Protection Of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, saying it is “an enormous cruelty that a woman in this State is compelled to bring to full term a pregnancy where a fatal foetal abnormality has been identified and there is no prospect of a child surviving”.
He also said it is “entirely unacceptable that a woman who is a victim of rape or incest should be compelled to retain a pregnancy resulting from such circumstances”.
Shatter said most of the public agree constitutional change is needed in this regard, adding that he hopes Fine Gael will include a commitment to holding a referendum on the issue in its General Election Manifesto.
Shatter also wants the subject of divorce to be put to the people once again. The 1996 vote allowed for the inclusion in the Constitution of a provision that requires couples to live apart for a minimum of four years before a marriage can be legally dissolved.
He said this time frame “locks estranged spouses into a legal limbo”, “results in thousands being required to involve themselves in two separate sets of court proceedings, one initially for separation and another later for divorce”, and “costs the taxpayer annually millions of euros” through legal aid.
Shatter went on to describe constitutions as “documents of their time” that need to be updated as “society evolves”.
Shatter said that a ‘Yes’ vote in the upcoming Marriage Equality Referendum should not be taken for granted “despite what is represented currently in opinion polls as being overwhelming support for change”.
In 1986, there was similar overwhelming support for constitutional change to permit divorce at this distance from the date of the referendum but, by the time the votes were cast and counted, the support had evaporated.
He said that legal uncertainty surrounding same-sex partners and their children will remain an issue regardless of the outcome of the referendum in May.
“Unfortunately, these issues are not widely understood by the general public and, at the time when Cabinet decided to hold a Marriage Equality Referendum, I emphasised the importance of our enacting the Children and Family Relationships Bill addressing these important parental issues in advance of the Referendum being held.”
Shatter said he is concerned that if this new legislative framework is “not enacted and in place well in advance of the referendum to be held, it will facilitate those opposed to constitutional change generating controversy and muddying the waters and misleading people into voting ‘No’”.
The Fine Gael TD said he is “greatly concerned” that the Children and Family Relationships Bill has not yet been published for second stage debate in the Dáil as he published the draft legislation a year ago.
He added he was “further concerned” that the provisions contained in the Bill relating to surrogacy have been removed and that a separate Bill dealing with both assisted reproduction and surrogacy is to be published by the Department of Health.
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The Brits aren’t the only ones getting fed up being told what to do by Europe.
The stellar failure that is Germany’s foreign policy is really coming to a head now. With Greece nearly out of the Euro and the UK about to leave the EU, the Germans have practically killed the EU.
I think countries throughout the EU will need to sit down and have a long think about which side of the fence they would want to sit on if the UK does walk.
I think it’s incredible – and a sign of what is deeply wrong with the EU – that the French foreign minister describes a democratic process as ‘risky’ speaks volumes about the democratic defecit in Europe
The UK public will be subjected to a relentless fear mongering campaign and vote no to an exit .
Couldn’t agree more buddy, bullies the lot of them. One nation one vote. No to a federal Europe run by Germany.
They don’t really need to do much in the way of fear mongering to be convinced about leaving the EU. The carry-on of this bureaucratic monster over the last 10 years has done nothing but alienate an already skeptical population.
Good luck to David Cameron, Europe needs her wings clipped. What Britain does Ireland must follow. Good news for Ireland.
Ireland usually follows brittan regardless. . We cant make our own minds up..
The UK will leave – as they see more Greece type problems on the horizon; they never got involved with the Euro.
Our biggest trading partner leaving our club – won’t be good for us….
Hopefully we’ll follow.
A new European project of one nation one vote.
Don’t you people know anything about politics? This is just a sop to the hardliners in the Tory party and UKIP types neither the political/Corporate establishment in England want an EU exit they will swing into action to oppose this along with their media allies and this will be comfortably defeated. The UK is a busted flush that could never compete without EU membership and they know that
How are they a busted flush Ciaran, the United Kingdom has long been a world superpower, once controlling a quarter of the land on Earth, although we won’t go into that one:). Placed in the top seven economies of the world by GDP rankings, the UK continues to exercise influence through its leadership of commonwealth countries, while the UK is also the world’s fourth-largest military spender, even though it ranks only twenty-second in population.My point is that the UK could easily survive on their own, the biggest risk to them leaving the EU would be to the City, and for that reason alone I don’t think they will. However there is no doubt that the EU is a mess, and we should support the UK in most of their demands for reform of the EU.
I actually cannot wait for this referendum to be over, the UK will not leave and this will all be put to bed for once and for all.
They just might tell the U.K. to F.O.
BUT CAMERON IS TOLD WHAT TO DO BY OBAMA AS IS MERKEL?
have your say