Abortion law - Early vote undermines work to date

The all-party Oireachtas committee examining Ireland’s abortion law took many people by surprise when it voted overwhelmingly against retaining the Eighth Amendment

In doing so, the Committee on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, as it was formally known, has made itself all but redundant.

The committee of 22 members, which was established last April to consider the Citizens’ Assembly report on the Eighth Amendment, was due to meet in public session for another five weeks to continue debate on the assembly’s recommendations as well as interrogate the broader health, social, human rights and other issues surrounding the provision of abortion services.