Complaint over abortion law delays

A significant complaint about the Government’s failure to act on a ruling from the European Court of Justice to regularise abortion legislation has been lodged by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.

The body is particularly critical of statements made by Lucinda Creighton, the European affairs minister, who has been quoted as saying the State was not bound by the court’s decisions.

Almost two years ago the court, which is based in Strasbourg, ruled that a woman had been denied her rights when, despite her life being endangered by her pregnancy, she was unable to procure an abortion in Ireland.