`Brian Cowen is like one of those busybodies who go into libraries and tear pages out of books which they think are unsuitable for the public." So says Democratic Left deputy Liz McManus of the Minister for Health's decision not to release the recommendations of the report on abortion from TCD's sociology department. The report was initiated by the last government to develop a strategy on reducing Irish abortions in Britain and it cost £100,000.
McManus believes it is public property and should be released. The issue had to be addressed. "We have passed a law giving the right to information on abortion, yet the Minister is stopping this information from being published." The Fine Gael spokesman, Alan Shatter, says: "I think his handling of this is outrageous. The recommendations derive from a comprehensive piece of research and should, and must, carry greater weight than a simple submission made by individuals or groups who have not carried out such research. I have never come across such a thing."
Both deputies are determined to pursue the matter. Meanwhile, the report is with the Department of Health and will go on to the Government working group taking submissions for the Green Paper on abortion. It is expected it will eventually be released but, as the Minister has said, without the recommendations - an outrageous act since, says Shatter, it was undertaken at public expense.
But why is Brian Cowen adopting this line? Is the reticence because, as McManus believes, the Government feels the recommendations are "too hot to handle". Obviously it contains something the Government doesn't want us to know. Does it require action, financial or social, that the Government is not prepared to take? Is it because, as some sources believe, the hundreds of pregnant women interviewed express ambivalent views on abortion? Or is it that the Government wants to long-finger the issue as much as possible? The report will go, after the Cabinet subcommittee, to the all-party committee on the Constitution, so any legislation or referendum is well down the road. Contentious research findings could upset this long-drawn-out scenario.