The Taoiseach has said he expects an abortion referendum to take place next spring, promising again it will take place before the next general election.
Mr Ahern told a press conference yesterday that while he would like the referendum to take place before Christmas, it might not be possible to get the necessary legislation through the Oireachtas by then.
He said the next step would be a debate on the Bill enabling the referendum to take place. That Bill, the 25th Amendment to the Constitution (Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy) Bill, 2001, should be through the Oireachtas before Christmas. While it was solely to allow the referendum to take place, if some aspect of the Government's proposal was deemed to need amendment, that could be done at that stage.
"I would rather have the [referendmum] vote before Christmas but that may not be possible, I don't want to rush it, we have taken four years so far. Spring time should see it through."
Legislation allowing the termination of pregnancy in cases where the life of the mother is at risk, but excluding the threat of suicide as a ground for such termination, will be published before the referendum takes place.
"I am conscious that we should give people sufficient time to look at the context of this, to look at the legislation," Mr Ahern said. It might be too ambitious to attempt to have the referendum held in the lifetime of the Dβil session which begins today. "If not, it may be spring time, but it will be this side of an election."
The threat of suicide had been excluded as a ground. "I do not believe it is possible for us to legislate for a case of suicide without going down the road of social abortion." He believed that in Britain, such a threat was often given as grounds for abortion "where quite frankly it isn't the reason".
He would not be drawn on whether he had secured the support of the Pro-Life Campaign or the Catholic Church before publishing his proposal.
He believed there should have been legislation passed after the 1983 abortion amendment was approved in a referendum. Successive governments had "failed totally" to have appropriate legislation. He quoted the late Mr Justice Niall McCarthy's statement in the 1992 X case judgment that "in the context of the eight years that have passed since the [1983] pro-life amendment . . . the failure by the legislature to enact the appropriate legislation is no longer just unfortunate; it is inexcusable".
If his proposal was rejected in a referendum, "then we are back to where we are now, back in a vacuum". He suggested it would then be possible for abortions to be carried out "that would not be regulated in any way." As for the issue itself, "it would not go away".
Asked about his personal commitment to changing the legal situation, he said he had given a commitment in 1997 to do something.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, acknowledged the Government's proposal was similar to that which was clearly rejected in 1992. However he believed there was "far more certainty" now.