Reluctance to enact X-case law understandable, says bishop

THE reluctance of politicians to enact legislation in the wake of the X case was “understandable”, a Catholic bishop said yesterday.

Bishop Leo O’Reilly, who chairs the Bishops’ Commission for Education, was commenting on the claim made by a Church of Ireland bishop that the legislature had failed to address its responsibilities.

The Bishop of Ossory, Rt Rev Michael Burrows, accused politicians of “systemic spinelessness” in failing to clarify the law on abortion.

Bishop Burrows said the failure to legislate in the X abortion case and in relation to other issues, including human embryology, had left doctors and lawyers floundering.

Bishop O’Reilly, however, said he understood the reluctance of politicians to introduce legislation that would open the way for abortion in Ireland when people had already decided in a referendum it should be prohibited.

Bishop O’Reilly said the Catholic Church’s position on the issue was very clear — the core value being that human life was sacred at all of its stages.

“There are very complex issues here that politicians have to deal with and I think it is not an easy one to square,” he said. “We also have to be extremely sensitive to the position of people who for one reason or another felt that they have no other option than abortion and the Catholic agency Cura is there to assist women in those situations and has done wonderful work in that area over the years.”

The bishop added that he hoped Cura would receive government funding to enable it to continue to work with women experiencing a crisis pregnancy.

Pressed on the matter Bishop O’Reilly said that talks with Cura and the Crisis Pregnancy Agency on the provision of state funding were continuing and he was hopeful there would be a positive outcome.

The agency confirmed in July that it had offered a new three-year contract to Cura, which had stopped giving clients the agency’s Positive Options leaflet two years ago at the request of the Irish Bishops’ Conference and that the matter was still under negotiation.