Oireachtas committee to ponder changes to abortion ban

A special Oireachtas committee is to be established this week to consider possible changes to the constitutional ban on abortion.

The committee will spend several months examining the issue and the recommendations from the Citizens’ Assembly, which has been debating the topic since the autumn.

The assembly is due to make its recommendations to Government and the Oireachtas by the end of June, although it may issue its report before then. It holds its final weekend-long consultation on the issue on April 22rd-23th, where it will decide what – if any – changes it will recommend.

The special joint Oireachtas committee will then take up the issue and will make its report before the end of the year. The committee may conduct hearings into the matter and seek input from medical and legal experts, as well as examining the position in other countries.

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It will then be for the Government, with the approval of the Dáil, to recommend any changes to the Eighth amendment, which, as article 40.3.3 of the Constitution, underpins Ireland’s strict anti-abortion laws.

If there is a referendum, it will not take place until the first half of next year at the earliest.

The Irish Times understands the parties have agreed that there will be 16 members of the committee.

The Government will appoint five members, Fianna Fáil will have four representatives and Sinn Féin will have two. There will be one each from Labour, Solidarity – People Before Profit, Independents 4 Change, the Rural Independents group and the Greens-Social Democrats group.

The members are likely to be announced this week. The group will decide on its own chairperson and terms of reference.

The Citizens’ Assembly has been discussing the issue in a series of weekend meetings since last November. At its last meeting, members were told that they must decide whether they wish to recommend repeal of the Eighth amendment altogether, amending the article to change the terms of the constitutional ban on abortion or leaving it intact. Most observers believe that a change of some kind will be recommended.

Campaigners for the repeal of the Eighth amendment have been organising and preparing to push for a referendum to change the law. Anti-abortion campaigners have also launched campaigns to defend the Eighth amendment.

In the Dáil, a number of Private Members’ Bills to liberalise the law on abortion have been defeated in recent years. Polls suggest there is public support for a limited liberalisation of the law.