‘Abortion clause the envy of hardliners’

The eighth amendment of the constitution is so medieval and anti-women that it is the envy of religious fundamentalists, Socialist TD Ruth Coppinger told the Dáil.

As the deputy demanded that a referendum be held on repealing the clause that insists the life of the mother and the unborn must be treated equally, Ms Coppinger questioned Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s role at a mass rally against fundamentalism in Paris at the weekend.

“You strutted and you strolled up the Champs Élysées with loads of other Western leaders ostensibly against religious fundamentalism while you are presiding at home over a host of laws, including blasphemy by the way, but also a law that is so anti-women so mediaeval and so misogynistic...”