THE Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Connell, has called for a new abortion referendum in a comprehensive preelection message.
Writing in this week's Irish Catholic, Dr Connell says: "Recent opinion polls show that a clear majority of Irish people not only consider that a referendum on abortion should be held in order to clarify the rights of the unborn, but are also opposed to legalisation of abortion in all circumstances. It is disconcerting that these views have not been reflected in the attitudes of the political parties.
"There is clearly a strong sense among the electorate that the matter is important and that it needs clarification in a referendum.
"Accordingly I believe that abortion is a pressing issue for our people and I strongly urge that the unborn should be unambiguously guaranteed protection in the Constitution. A properly worded referendum is the only means which can achieve this."
Dr Connell urges "the political institutions of society" to listen to the "strong moral feeling of the electorate on this issue". To fail to respond to the electorate's wishes - by pointing to technical difficulties in drafting appropriate legal wording - "would do a violence to its democratic rights".
The archbishop warns that a commitment to a new referendum is a necessary but not sufficient requirement for the complete and compassionate resolution of the abortion issue in our generation. Any such referendum needs to give people the clear and unambiguous choice to rule out abortion completely".
Pointing to the Medical Council's ruling that abortion is unethical, he goes on: "We should take pride in our excellent maternal care, continue to improve it, and legislate on the basis of it to protect mothers and children always."
Dr Connell starts his article by saying: "It is sometimes argued that morality is a private matter and of no concern to the state in a pluralist, democratic society.
"When I visit urban areas ravaged by drugs and unemployment, I am convinced that morality cannot be purely private. It is impossible to think that morality and justice have nothing to say to these situations.
"Without a serious attempt at broad minded public debate, the only values Irish society is likely to promote are consumerist."
He warns that the burden of Ireland's national debt in the 1980s fell most heavily and therefore unfairly on the poor. "There is a serious moral obligation on whatever government is in power to manage our national finances prudently now, controlling public spending at this time of economic buoyancy so as to be better prepared for future economic downturns.
"In reviewing taxation provisions, we must be careful not to increase inequality and erode the social solidarity which adds immeasurably to the quality of life in our society, and is basic to the Christian vision of community."
He also warns against taxation being allowed to discriminate unjustly against marriage. "The family based on marriage is entitled in strictest justice to preferential treatment under taxation law".
Dr Connell urges more effective Sunday trading laws, warning that without regulation there is increased pressure on employers to open and employees to work on Sundays. He warns that "families may be hardest hit by the demands of an increasingly competitive and aggressive marketplace".
The archbishop says the debate on the Education Bill focused too narrowly on the structure of education, and this had been presented as an issue of church control. The most important goal in education is the development of the whole human person, he stresses.
"We must be careful as a society to avoid an excessively instrumentalist approach to education where people are prepared only for the marketplace and not for life in other words, prepared to make a living, but not to live.
"This is why it is vitally important to protect the religious ethos of schools, and why the various religious traditions have united in their desire to protect their schools' ethos."
On crime, the archbishop warns that "locking more people up will not of itself eradicate the roots of crime". He urges the exploration of non custodial alternatives, including the Christian concept of restitution: imposing a penalty; which carries "a compensatory duty" to the victim.
Prof William Binchy of the Pro Life Campaign said yesterday Dr Connell's understanding of the need for action on an abortion referendum was "in stark contrast to the indecisive and contradictory, statements we have seen from political leaders".