Archbishop: State has no right to destroy life

The future head of the Catholic Church in Ireland has entered the row over abortion legislation by declaring that the State has no right to destroy life.

It comes as a Fine Gael TD backed calls for legal representation for the unborn if an abortion was being considered.

Archbishop Eamon Martin, who will be Primate of All-Ireland when the incumbent Cardinal Seán Brady retires, questioned how the planned laws were the will of the people when the protection of a mother and her child were enshrined in the Constitution.