No legal standing

THE comments by Cllr Joe Kelly (Letters, January 26) on a recent European Parliament resolution are inaccurate and misleading.

The resolution — a wide-ranging review of the situation of fundamental rights in the EU over the period 2004-2008 — has no legal standing and is a report to the EU institutions.

It does not, as Cllr Kelly asserts, guarantee access to abortion in Ireland. Nor does it impose same-sex unions on this or any other EU member state. The situation on abortion is clear. This is a matter for Irish legislation alone and that fact is further underwritten by a protocol attached to the existing EU treaties and to the Lisbon Treaty.