Savita Halappanavar - Failure to lead has cost us dearly

Enda Kenny is the seventh man to be Taoiseach since a 1983 referendum endorsed an amendment to the Constitution recognising the equal right to life of both mother and child.

Like each of those predecessors he was well aware, long before he took office, that the abortion file in the Taoiseach’s in-tray demanded action. However, just like Garret FitzGerald, Charles Haughey, John Bruton, Albert Reynolds, Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen, he hoped that his successor, or maybe even one of their successors, would deal with the issue. Anyone but him, or them. The can was, inevitably, kicked down that long and winding road pockmarked with evasion and hypocrisy.

Like his six predecessors Mr Kenny did not regard it as a leadership or a pressing social issue. Neither did he, or they, think that dodging the unavoidable impinged on his, or their, political integrity. None of these men accepted the issue had to be resolved no matter what the consequences. None of them recognised it could not be shirked no matter how difficult or divisive.

As late as last month Mr Kenny acknowledged his, and their, à la carte principles when he told Time magazine that he did not regard recognising the implications of the 1983 referendum or the subsequent European Court of Human Rights ruling as a priority in his legislative programme. The, as far as we know, needless death of Savita Halappanavar has changed all that.

Despite having the report of the expert group and a suggested three-month wait for a HSE report to facilitate even more prevarication the issue cannot be deferred again. It has been fermenting for 30 years already. As an aside it is difficult to understand why, if not to deflate the situation, the HSE report might take three months to deliver.

But should we be surprised by this institutionalised procrastination? Can we possibly be surprised that our political class regards long-fingering divisive issues as a default survival strategy? There are nearly as many issues as there are examples of this run-away-and-fight-another-day evasion of responsibilities. Water charges, property taxes, college fees, banking legislation, public sector expenditure, children’s allowances, pensions, constitutional or political reform, and what ever you do don’t mention nuclear power, all fall into that category.

Savita Halappanavar’s death means the abortion nettle must be grasped more or less immediately. Women and medical staff must be given the protection of a humane and clear legal definition of when the life of an unborn child may or may not be terminated. Already, in the days since her death became public knowledge, one senior medical figure after another, none of them abortionists and all dedicated to the preservation of life, have said such a ruling is essential.

Maybe we have been remiss by repeatedly electing politicians who find it easier to defer than to lead. Maybe Eamon Gilmore’s Labour party, as they have said they will, will break this dishonest cycle of trying to remain blameless by doing nothing. Even if they do it will be too late for Savita Halappanavar who has paid the ultimate price for our leaders’ failure to lead.

Shame on them and shame on us for tolerating what has become a lethal betrayal of the trust placed in them.

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Savita Halappanavar - Failure to lead has cost us dearly