The All-Party Committee on the Constitution has agreed to invite representatives from the main medical organisations, church leaders and lobby groups to attend a series of public hearings on the abortion issue.
A motion changing the status of the committee is expected to be approved by the Oireachtas before Easter which will allow the hearings to be held in public. Initial discussions on televising the hearings have taken place with TG4. It is understood the committee favours continuous sittings over a two-week period, most likely in May. The committee is keen to obtain the views of the medical bodies prior to public hearings, to ensure it has access to all available expert knowledge on the subject.
There was some initial discussion at yesterday's meeting on the catalogue of the 105,000 submissions made to the committee in response to the Green Paper on abortion. The catalogue, seen by The Irish Times earlier this month, contained submissions on the seven options identified in the Green Paper for dealing with the abortion issue. The majority of the submissions were received from individuals seeking another constitutional referendum. The Pro-Life Campaign argued in its submission that a complete constitutional ban on induced abortion was "the just and workable solution". The Irish Bishops' Conference said "no court judgment, no act of legislation, can make abortion morally right".