Renegade pro-life Sinn Féin TDs Carol Nolan and Peadar Tóibín are facing mounting pressure to decide if they will remain as party members or quit after colleagues voted to further liberalise Sinn Féin’s abortion policy.

Government Chief Whip Regina Doherty has put her position in jeopardy by saying she will back anti-pylon protesters in any “civil disobedience” measures taken to prevent the new north-south electricity inter-connector.