“It goes against the very fabric of my party, and what we said before and during the general election campaign.’’
However, simple research into the public release of their
manifesto reveals Fine Gael promised the following:
"We will establish an all-party committee, with access to medical and legal expertise, to consider the implications of the recent ruling of the ECHR and to make recommendations. Such a process would, we believe, be the best way of examining the issues in a way that respects the range of sincerely-held views on this matter"
The promise was not to avoid legislating for the X case, but
rather a promise to debate it. This was confirmed by the Press Office when
contacted this morning:
“This was in our program for government”
This misunderstanding might be understood coming from anti-abortion campaigners, but what does this imply about Fine Gael TDs and senators who are now opposing the legislation? Could it be that they didn’t understand their manifesto, or that they didn’t read it? Possibly, yet an accusation of incompetence for this set of rebel TDs is perhaps too good for them. It is not political strength to represent one’s personal feelings of an issue in the House, especially if this means misrepresenting the rest of your party. This is the mark of a weak politician. I will make it very clear now that I elected my politicians based on whether or not I thought they would respond to the public’s concerns on a debate – I did not elect them so they could enforce their personal feelings with a public law.
(Photograph from Irish Times, Opinion piece by J.Nolan)
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