Abortion back on agenda despite Government’s best efforts

The issue of abortion is back on the Government’s agenda. It is that pesky little subject that just will not go away.

Despite the Taoiseach’s grand plan of sending the issue off to a Citizens’ Assembly to be decided for him and his Government colleagues, Mick Wallace’s Bill to be debated in the Dáil tomorrow has placed it firmly back in the spotlight.

The split in Cabinet over the proposed legislation, in the first instance, paints a worrying tale about the future of this Government.

In the second instance, it demonstrates how abortion remains an incredibly divisive and emotional issue for most people.

However this is far from a two-sided debate. Neither the pro-life campaign nor the pro-choice campaign speaks for the majority of Ireland.

Their attempt to paint the issue as a straightforward one is unfair to the hundreds of thousands of people who find themselves somewhere in the middle of the debate.

Those are the people whose voices are not being heard - and which won’t be, because the media coverage is dominated by lobby groups which will paint you as belonging to either extreme. It is an unfair conversation that excludes the majority of the population.

On the political element of Mr Wallace’s Bill, the dispute in Cabinet is the first divisive political controversy for the new Government.

The Independent Alliance ministers know their political credibility is at stake here. Having succumbed to the Government’s stance on water charges they know this is a battle they cannot afford to lose.

Both Finian McGrath and Shane Ross voted in favour of an identical Bill tabled by Clare Daly last year. Voting against it now is a position neither man will want to do.

But aside from the personal political difficulties, the proposed compromise to be agreed by the Alliance and Fine Gael is a worrying trend for this Government.

The Alliance will be asked to support the Cabinet’s decision to oppose the Bill but will be allowed to abstain in the Dáil vote.

It will not be the first or the last dispute the two sides will involve themselves in but it is the first in what could be an unravelling of this Government.

53 days of Government

Yes, folks, they have lasted an impressive 53 days. Some did not think they would be still here this long and plenty do not think they will last 100 days.

You might be asking yourself what has the Government or the Dáil done in those 53 days? Not much is the answer.

See the problem with new politics is that there is so much consultation and so many compromises reached. It delays and often dilutes.

The need for a functioning Government is essential now more than over. The revelations emerging from Console are deeply disturbing.

The details of spending at the suicide charity will sicken the thousands of people who rely on the service, the staff who work there and those who have fundraised for it.

It reminds me of the controversy that emerged in Fas and more recently in the Central Remedial Clinic.

A fully functioning and properly resourced Public Accounts Committee is absolutely essential to establish how this went unnoticed by the Health Service Executive for so long.

The aftermath of the Brexit vote poses a raft of difficulties for Ireland. They have been well vocalised by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

The Irish Government must selfishly defend our national interest in Europe. While we cannot and should not distance ourselves from Britain, we must now move to secure support from our European partners to ensure any arrangement done with the United Kingdom does not hamper Ireland.

If the Government thought the first 53 days were tough it is in for a rude awakening. The worst is yet to come.