Bishops may defer abortion statement

The Irish (Catholic) Bishops Conference may not issue a statement on the Government's proposals for change in abortion legislation before their December meeting, a spokesman for the hierarchy has said.

It had been expected that a "holding" statement would be issued this week, but yesterday Father Martin Clarke, spokesman for the bishops, said this was "not necessarily or definitely" the case.

Cardinal Desmond Connell and the Catholic Primate, Archbishop Seβn Brady, are both in Rome representing Ireland at a Synod of Bishops, which continues until October 27th. A spokeswoman for the Church of Ireland in Dublin has said it had no plans to issue a statement on the Government proposals.

Sources indicate that Government representatives had been in contact with senior Catholic Church figures prior to the announcement of the proposals.

There was also "some discussion" relating to the proposals at the autumn meeting of the Irish Bishops Conference in Maynooth last week.

The Catholic Church's delegation to the Oireachtas committee on abortion included two members of the conference, the Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Connell, and the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Dr Laurence Ryan. It is understood there was "some toing and froing" between delegation members and Government representatives prior to the proposals being announced.

It has also emerged that the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton Empey, had a meeting with the Attorney General, Mr McDowell, in recent weeks. A spokesman for the Irish Bishops Conference, said nothing relating to the proposals had been sent to the Conference by the Government.