TD seeks free vote for members on abortion
The Meath West TD was previously sanctioned for his failure to vote in his party’s Dáil private members’ motion calling for the government to legislate in line with the X case ruling.
He told delegates at the Árd Fheis at the weekend that the party’s policy “goes further in seeking that abortion be made available in Ireland” than what is provided for under that ruling.
He was speaking on a motion urging the leadership to allow members to vote with their conscience on the issue, which was defeated by delegates.
He said a “significant section” of the party believes “that an unborn child is a human being” but “many do not articulate their views because of the party strictures”.
He said: “Republicanism is about freedom of conscience, it is not about forcing people to act against their conscience.”
But the party’s deputy leader, Mary Lou McDonald, urged delegates to defeat the motion, because it was “not credible for Sinn Féin, as a republican party, to have an opt-out clause in terms of policy”. She said: “When we reach a decision, that’s the Sinn Féin position and we all back that.”
One delegate, Eamon Arbuckle, from the party’s UCD branch, said the abortion issue was the biggest threat to unity in Sinn Féin since the peace process. “The potential for fissure, fracture and division is enormous,” he said.
Another delegate said it was a “sad state of affairs” that the Conservative Party in Britain was allowing its representatives to vote with their conscience on the issue of same-sex marriage but Sinn Féin would not allot a free vote on abortion.
