The Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe has described as "disastrous" the Government's approach to the abortion referendum. In a strongly-worded statement yesterday, the Rt Rev Michael Mayes said that the abortion question required detailed legislation and not the constitutional amendment proposed by the Government.
It was the second severe criticism this week of the Government position by a senior Church of Ireland cleric. Bishop John Neill of Cashel and Ossory described aspects of the proposed amendment as "irresponsible", "cruel" and "naive" and has said that it would do nothing to stem the flow of Irish women to abortion clinics in Britain.
Bishop Mayes said that the Church of Ireland had consistently maintained that the Constitution was not an appropriate place to deal with an issue as complex as abortion. "It is a matter for detailed legislation," he said. "Asking people to approve yet another amendment and to approve legislation, the contents of which are still known to the public only in broad outline, is unfair. The lack of definition over what protection the legislation would offer is resulting in legal and moral confusion.
"The existing clauses in the Constitution, which are to be retained, give tacit recognition, if not approval, to people travelling to other jurisdictions to have abortions. It is difficult to see how the proposals before us, or even the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, will do anything to clear up such disastrous moral ambiguity..." The position of the Church of Ireland was set out in a submission to the Government's Interdepartmental Working Group on Abortion in early 1998. The Role of the Church Committee stated at the time: "The deliberate termination of an intra-uterine life cannot be right, but many in our church believe that exceptional cases may arise which mean that abortion ought to be an option and may even be a necessity in a few very rare cases . . ."
The committee said that there was a need for a "clear and unambiguous" definition of abortion.
The fact that thousands of Irish women had abortions in Britain was a reality which was recognised "with sadness", but such women did not need condemnation to make their situation worse.