Fine Gael and Independent Alliance set to clash over abortion bill

Fine Gael and the Independent Alliance are on a collision course over the pending bill to liberalise abortion in the Dáil.

There is still no agreed course of action as to how to respond to Ruth Coppinger’s bill, which is seeking to have the 1983 Eighth Amendment to the Constitution on abortion repealed.

As revealed in this newspaper, Independent Alliance members in Government — Shane Ross, Finian McGrath and John Halligan — are demanding a free vote while Taoiseach Enda Kenny is known to want all ministers to oppose Coppinger’s bill.