Six weeks to produce legislation on abortion referendum

The Government will have just six weeks to produce legislation for a referendum on abortion following an Oireachtas committee’s work on the Eighth Amendment if there is to be a public vote next May.

The advice is contained in details given to the Government, which outlines the parameters for a range of referenda and their possible dates but also issues around holding votes.

A memo for the Cabinet advises that if a referendum is to go ahead on abortion either next May or June, as intended by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, that the lead-in work for this must start in January or early February.