Politics

Martin declines to say if he supports abortion in rape cases

Dáil business committee hears names of eight TDs on Eighth Amendment committee

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin: said he comes from a pro-life disposition but was an open-minded, reasonable person who did not seek to be judgmental. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw

Sarah Bardon
Thu May 4 2017 - 21:14

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has declined to state if he is in favour of abortion in cases of rape and incest.

Mr Martin said he comes from a pro-life disposition but was an open-minded, reasonable person who did not seek to be judgmental.

However, asked if he was supportive of terminations in particular circumstances of rape and incest, Mr Martin said these were complex issues that needed to be teased out.

Speaking on Kildare FM, he said: “It’s not a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’; that depends on a number of issues.

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“I know people today who are alive whose mothers, in one particular case, was raped. She was the outcome of that and she gets very angry when people suggest she should never have had a life.”

Fianna Fáil will have a vote of conscience on the outcome of the deliberations of an Oireachtas committee which will be tasked with holding hearings and forming a potential question to be put to the people by way of a referendum.

Mr Martin said he would examine all issues that would emerge from the committee and make a decision thereafter.

However, he believed it was inevitable that there would be a referendum on the eighth amendment, which places the life of the unborn of an equal footing to that of the mother.

The party has nominated four TDs to sit on the committee, including Billy Kelleher, Lisa Chambers, Anne Rabbitte and James Browne. It is also due to appoint a Senator.

Fine Gael is the only party that has not submitted the names of its TDs to serve on the abortion committee to Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl.

Joint committee

At a private meeting of the Dáil business committee on Thursday, members heard the names of 11 TDs who will sit on the cross-party Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution had been confirmed.

Fine Gael has to nominate five TDs but only Kate O’Connell and Bernard Durkan have agreed to participate to date. The party leadership must persuade three more members to take part.

Meanwhile, Mr Ó Fearghaíl and the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Denis O’Donovan, will meet in an attempt to resolve the row over the numbers from each House due to serve on the committee that will consider the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly.

The committee was originally supposed to comprise 16 TDs and four Senators, but the Upper House nominated seven members before Easter in an attempt to ensure all groups in the Seanad were represented.

If the committee is expanded to 23, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil combined will not command a majority and not be able to elect a chairperson.

The Seanad appears unlikely to back down, with a person with knowledge of the process saying members of the Upper House were “flexing their muscles”.

Sinn Féin’s Louise O’Reilly and Jonathan O’Brien have also submitted their names, as has Jan O’Sullivan from the Labour Party.

Independent TD Mattie McGrath and Independents 4 Change deputy Clare Daly will take slots on the committee.

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy will take the position allocated for the group including her party, the Greens and Séamus Healy, the Workers and Unemployed Action Group TD.

Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger and People Before Profit’s Bríd Smith will rotate a position on the committee.

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