The Government's legislation to hold an abortion referendum next year will pass a key stage in the Dβil tonight, despite opposition from Fine Gael and Labour.
Fine Gael wants to postpone for three months the Second Reading of the 25th Amendment of the Constitution (Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy) Bill 1001.
The Fine Gael chief whip, Mr Paul Bradford said the Taoiseach, has not answered Fine Gael's doubts about the constitutional wording. "We are demanding that additional information is given." Despite Cork South West TD, Mr PJ Sheehan's support for a referendum, Mr Bradford rejected charges that Fine Gael TDs are increasingly split on the issue.
Mr Sheehan insisted yesterday that he would vote for the Fine Gael motion, even though he believes that any flaws in the Government's wording can be rectified.
Mr Bradford denied that Mr Sheehan was out of line with party policy. "There is no question of disunity. The Government itself is not clear about the substance of the legislation. They portrayed Michael Noonan's letter to the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, on the subject as time-wasting and now look at them." But the Fine Gael parliamentary party, which has sharply differing views on the subject, will avoid the embarrassment of having to declare a final position on the constitutional amendment itself.
The party yesterday was careful to seek clarification on the voting procedures to be used during tonight's vote from the clerk of the Dβil, Mr Kieran Coughlan. He replied that the Government's motion would be deemed accepted by default, if the Fine Gael motion were defeated. Both Fine Gael and Labour are expected to oppose strongly the Government's attempt to have the committee stage of the legislation dealt with this week by the Dβil Committee on Health and Children.
The Government gave early assurances that the committee stage, where detailed amendments are often made to legislation, would be dealt with before the full Dβil. "The Government chief whip, Mr Seamus Brennan, made it quite clear that that is what would happen. We don't know where the idea came from to send it to Health and Children," said Labour whip, Mr Emmet Stagg.
The position adopted by Mr Sheehan towards a free vote for TDs appears to have softened significantly following his interview in yesterday's Irish Examiner.
Then, he was quoted as saying: "I think it should be a free vote. Every elected member of Oireachtas have their own conscience and their own mind to make up. But I'm 100 per cent pro-life. Anything that will be of advantage to the pro-life campaign, I'm 100 per cent behind it." But, yesterday, he said he would follow the Fine Gael whip in the Dβil.
Politicians, he said, had a responsibility to correct any flaws that exist in the constitutional wording. Unlike many of his colleagues, including Dublin South TD, Ms Olivia Mitchell, Mr Sheehan insisted that a referendum is the "only way to tackle the problem".
