The Minister for Health is to produce two amendments to the Government's Bill for an abortion referendum today, responding to sustained Opposition claims that its proposals are flawed.
Mr Martin will firstly seek to narrow the definition of a "medical practitioner" who, under the legislation to be put to the people in a referendum, will be allowed carry out terminations of pregnancies where a woman's life is at risk.
The Twenty Fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy) Bill, 2001, currently states that a medical practitioner is "a person permitted for the time being by law to practise as a medical practitioner in the State".
The Minister's amendment will say that such a person must be "registered" to practise medicine.
However the amendment, to be produced when the Select Committee on Health and Children meets today to consider the Bill's Committee Stage, will not say with whom the person must be registered.
Labour and the Green Party, which have tabled amendments on the same matter, are likely to say the Minister's new definition is still too vague.
Mr Martin's second amendment concerns the power to be given to a Government Minister, expected to be the Minister for Health, to make orders in relation to the legislation.
These include designating the places at which terminations can take place. Mr Martin is now proposing that such orders must be approved by both Houses of the Oireachtas.
Labour's health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, has a similar amendment tabled, while Fine Gael's health spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, is proposing that such orders must be signed by the President, and can be referred by her to the Supreme Court for a test as to whether they comply with the Constitution.
The two issues covered are among those that have been raised repeatedly by the Opposition since the Government's Bill was published last month.
However the Opposition is seeking much greater change.
Fine Gael's amendments allow it to stick to its strategy of attacking the Government's proposal on a wide variety of grounds while not taking a position on the substantive issue of whether to support an abortion referendum.
Labour and the Green Party, however, are proposing amendments to retain the threat of suicide as a ground for abortion, as allowed for in the 1992 Supreme Court judgement in the X case. The central aim of the Government Bill is to roll back that judgment.
Labour and the Greens plan to vote against the Bill once the Government rejects their amendments on this issue.
However Fine Gael has still not taken a position on the issue of whether a referendum should be held. Mr Mitchel yesterday tabled a series of amendments, the most fundamental of which opposes the substantive section of the Bill, section one.
Section one sets out the procedure in which the Constitution will be amended to allow for the enactment of legislation.
It defines abortion as taking place only after implantation; allows for the ending of unborn human life where necessary to save a woman's life; and eliminates the threat of suicide as a ground for abortion.
By opposing the entire section, Fine Gael opponents of the referendum will be able to argue that the Government's approach is flawed and overly complex.
Deputies and senators with a pro-life outlook can argue that the definition of abortion is not strict enough as it allows for the termination of human life before implantation.
Among Labour's 22 amendments is one loosening the restriction that terminations can only take place in "an approved place" designated by the Minister.
"In the case of medical emergency", it says, where a medical practitioner believes the welfare of a patient is at stake, a termination should be allowed to take place in any other place.
The Green Party, meanwhile, is seeking to ensure a woman who carries out an abortion on herself cannot be charged with a criminal offence.