Varadkar must match Micheál Martin’s courage
As leader of one of the most conservative parties in one of Europe’s most conservative countries, his decision to back a significant liberalisation of our abortion laws was a courageous one, even if somewhat late.
He said that, not only does he support removing the Eighth Amendment from the Constitution, he also supports the recommendations of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Ammendment that abortions be made legal in all cases up to 12 weeks.
He said that, after a long period of reflection, he feels the Eighth Amendment should be repealed. He will express his opinion on whether the amendment needs to be replaced once the Government’s advice is known, but he feels it may be necessary to prevent inevitable court cases.
Mr Martin said abortion is a present and permanent part of life.
“The Eighth Amendment does not mean that Ireland is a country without abortion,” he said.
“Retaining the Eighth Amendment will not turn Ireland into a country without abortion... Nothing we say or do here could make Ireland a country without abortion.”
It was some distance from where he had stood previously. As someone who has been in Cabinet previously for 14 years, his conservative credentials are well-known and established.
In 2001, while he was Minister for Health, he and his Government sought to strengthen the ban on
abortion by removing the threat of suicide as a grounds for legal abortion in the State, as well as introducing new penalties for anyone performing an abortion.
Speaking in the Dáil on October 25, 2001, Mr Martin said: “I believe that the majority of Irish people are opposed to any lessening of the protection currently afforded to the unborn and I have no doubt that any proposal to remove Article 40.3.3 from the
Constitution, which would be necessary if it were proposed to legalise abortion, would fail.”
Introducing the 25th Amendment of the Constitution (Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy) Bill, 2001, Mr Martin said the Government’s proposal would protect best medical practice, while providing for a legislative prohibition on abortion and underpinning such legislation with an amendment to the Constitution.
“The Government does not believe that a risk of suicide is a valid basis on which to provide for medical intervention,” he said.
“The Government is aware, of course, that addressing these constitutional and legal issues may have little impact on Irish women who choose to travel abroad for abortions,” he added, perhaps acknowledging the limitations of his argument.
Even as late as 2013, he said Fianna Fáil had an issue with including the risk of suicide in any legislation for the X case on abortion, saying he and the party would wait to see legislation before deciding whether or not to vote for it.
He also said then that he would not favour widening legislation or changing the Constitution to include cases where a woman had become pregnant as a result of rape.
Just last October, at his party’s ard fheis, delegates overwhelmingly backed a motion urging opposition to changing the Eighth Amendment.
Delegates at the party’s ard fheis voted by three to one to back a motion from Kildare North constituency urging the party “to oppose any attempt to diminish the constitutional rights of the unborn”.
The night before he delivered his speech, Martin too felt the wrath of the majority of his parliamentary party, who are uneasy, to say the least, about any move to liberalise abortion laws.
They met over a period of more than three hours and speaker after speaker explained their concerns about what was being proposed.
As audacious as Martin’s speech was in the Dáil on Thursday, the ability of his health spokesman, Billy Kelleher, along with Lisa Chambers and Ned O’Sullivan, to propose the 12-week limit at the committee was seismic.
Yesterday, the reaction within Fianna Fáil to their leader’s speech was mixed. Fianna Fáil TDs praised Mr Martin publicly for his leadership, but privately some were horrified at his speech. One TD predicted he would be “lynched, killed” by his parliamentary party, while another said there would be “war”, but that it would ease off after a few days.
Others said that Mr Martin had taken a very brave step “politically and personally”.
The off-record grumblings are certainly there, but as long as they remain off-record then it would appear Martin’s gamble will pay off.
If we had five of his front bench speaking out against him on the record, then he would genuinely be in trouble.
But it was a rare — too rare — example, of leadership from the
notoriously cautious Cork South-Central TD. In an instant, he not only put it up to his own party members to reform and modernise, he stumped Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as well.
Varadkar is now the only leader not to declare his hand on the proposals put forward by the committee.
His supporters have said he has deliberately stayed quiet to allow the more hardline elements within his own party to come around if at all possible, but Varadkar has made it known that he wants no repeat of the expulsion of party members that occurred in 2013, when Lucinda Creighton and six others walked the plank.
He is, though, evidently edgy and nervous and, to be fair, Mr Varadkar is still a novice in a post where pitfalls abound. His silence has seen him lose the political initiative in the short run and could do longer-term damage to his standing.
A known social conservative, much more so than his image would lead you to believe, Varadkar is clearly uncomfortable with the recommendations for unrestricted access to abortion for up to 12 weeks.
However, he would do well, politically, to remember and argue that the 12-week limit is a far cry from the 22-week limit proposed by the Citizens’
Assembly.
The committee also rejected the Assembly’s call for a relaxation of the law on socio-economic grounds and in cases where there is a disability.
Varadkar, as Taoiseach, urgently needs to park his own qualms or difficulties, and deliver on his promise to put the question to the people.
Any deviation from the recommendations of an all-party committee report is fraught with danger and, while now it is a matter for the Attorney General Seamus Woulfe in conjunction with Health Minister Simon Harris to bring forward a formula of words, at the very least Varadkar needs to stop undermining the process, as he did when he said the 12-week recommendation was “a step too far”. He has been joined in his silence by his equally cautious Tánaiste, Simon Coveney.
His brother Patrick, the head of Greencore, put the cat among the pigeons, by tweeting strong support for Martin’s speech.
“Big, brave, personal statement from @MichealMartinTD on his support for removal of 8th Amendment. Centre ground in Ireland (across political divide) moving at last to a more compassionate, trusting, responsible, ‘women centered’ position on abortion!”
So, Taoiseach, it is up to you.
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