People Before Profit and Anti-Austerity Alliance TDs Brid Smith, Ruth Coppinger, Richard Boyd Barrett and Paul Murphy outside Leinster House yesterday in support of the AAA-PBP repeal bill (top)
Ahead of the debate on the AAA-PBP private members’ bill to repeal the 8th amendment this evening from 8pm, and a rally outside Leinster House at 5.30pm in relation to the same…
The Government has agreed to reject it, and it has released the following statement…
There are differing views within the Government on the substantive issue of the 8th Amendment of the Constitution.
The Government is moving this Reasoned Amendment because this Bill pre-empts the work of the Citizens’ Assembly, the agreed, independent process set out in the Programme for Partnership Government for dealing with this issue and approved by both the Dáil and Seanad.
The Citizens’ Assembly is currently deliberating on the 8th Amendment as its first topic and is expected to deliver its Report on the issue in the first half of 2017.
The Government will then immediately refer the Report to a Special Oireachtas Committee which will be asked to respond to the deliberations and recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly within six months.
The Government will today ask the Business Committee to set in train the preparatory work necessary for the establishment of this Committee, including its structure and work programme, in order that the Committee will be in a position to commence its work without delay once the Citizens’ Assembly delivers its Report on the 8th Amendment.
The Government will not adopt a collective policy position for the Committee deliberations and all Government deputies will be free to promote their own policy objectives during that process.
The Government has agreed that, when a decision is being made in the Dáil on the outcome of the Citizens’ Assembly and Special Oireachtas Committee processes, all members of the Government, and all deputies supporting the Government, will exercise their votes freely in accordance with their consciences.
Fine Gael also acknowledges, more generally, that its Independent colleagues in Government are not subject to a party whip and that, on matters which are not addressed either in the Programme for Partnership Government or by decisions of Cabinet, they will continue to exercise a free vote.
Reasoned Amendment
“Delete the words after “That” and substitute the following:
“Dáil Éireann declines to give the Bill a second reading in order that the Citizens’ Assembly, established by Resolutions of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, may conclude its deliberations on the 8th Amendment of the Constitution, which is the subject matter of this Bill, and report to the Oireachtas in the first half of 2017.”
Via Merrion Street
Coalition eyes countermotion to block abortion Bill (Irish Times)
Previously: Free Tomorrow?
Rollingnews
UPDATE:
From the Labour Party.
Meanwhile…
This evening.
Scenes outside Leinster House where AAA/PBP TD Ruth Coppinger (pic 7) and Nine month pregnant Helen Guinane (pic 5) of AIMS [Association For Improvement Of Maternity Services) call for a repeal of the Eighth Amendment.
Eamonn Farrell/Rollingnews
The so-called Citizens Assembly is a red herring designed to put the Repeal and other issues at arms length.
It is a fake (and possibly unconstitutional) talking shop which is little more than a net curtain between the people and the representatives who they elected to do the job of Government.
It is a committee of unelected people who supposedly represent all demographics.
Well, I thought that’s what the Dáil was.
The Dáil is elected so your analogy falls down there. Other than that you’re right. The Citizens Assembly is a delay tactic and a construct to allow politicians point at someone else and say “they made us bring this referendum” to the hard line Retain side of the electorate.
AAA- PBP …very expensive balloons you bought there..could the funds have been used better?.
they have to do something with all the hot air the produce
what
like blowing fifty grand on the FG Ladies Club xmas bash @ The Four Seasons for example?
All their pics of them are the same – grim faced outside the Dail holding up poster/ plastic gimmick. And Broadsheet falls for it every time.
At least they stay (mostly) true to the ideals of the Left.
the ideals of the far-left you mean Bobby J, taking advantage of any issue, be it water, abortion, garda misbehaviour, housing, to turn it into a transitional demand in order to target the centre left – not caring about the issue itself or seeking a feasible improvement but the potential to use it as a tool to bring about a collapse of the political status quo. Ruth Coppinger had a microphone shoved in her face during this photoshoot and used the opportunity to attack the Labour party who are not in government anymore and are in favour of Repeal, why? a campaign group that was honest and constructive and sought meaningful improvement would not operate in this way
+1 It’s all about ideological purity, not about actually getting something done.
And if you don’t meet the purity test, you’re purged.
Spot on
As someone else said on here some time ago, the Assembly is a delaying tactic…. well now.
So they are going to vote on the outcome, is that right? Because that will go well….
Kick the can down the road, kick the can………………………………………………
Bottom line here is that the Dail won’t vote for a referendum to repeal without the political cover of the Citizens Assembly. maybe not even then. so good luck to AAA-PBP but they’re just hitting their heads off the wall.
The cabinet has refused to move a bill due to the work of an anonymous, unelected, polling company selected “assembly”.
Disgraceful outsourcing of their function.
All because Zappone & Halligan are not in favour of repealing the 8th and the rest of them need the fig leaf of ‘the assembly said so’ to cover their cowardice.
Thank you. I really want to believe in Zappone and give her the benefit of the doubt but if she knows the bill will be defeated anyway, surely she can vote for it as a gesture of solidarity with those of us she marched with? Surely she can see some value in doing that.
Any idea what the blood red balloons are for?
Other than to deflect from the mind numbing dullness of the Trots underneath them.
Probably the number of women who’ve had Irish abortions abroad this year alone.
The Dail turned into a prn hub by them catholic boyos.
Shouldn’t the male Dail stick to comparing notes on latest prostate exam and rate the quickest finger on GP block. As well as peculiarities or shape. I would not be surprised there is some knee bouncing going on in chambers. Catholic body parts pivoting on sweet thoughts of vertile vag… Does the state provide the with bibs too?
All of it is fupping nuts.
Irish politicians, is anyone surprised that a bunch of Independents have turned on the abortion issue? Irish politicians always get to a comfy point in their careers and they don’t want to rock the boat by making big changes and perhaps losing their cushy job/pension, therefore big difficult decisions rarely get made. And we continue to live in a modern mess
Halligan will get his cathlab after all!
Zappone is such a fake time waster
“The Substantive Issue”…. Oh how that phrase freezes my blood every time I hear it, since 1982. I would hope never again to hear some of the sentiments expressed by some ‘good Christian people ‘ at that time.
2159…is the year the sitting gov will make an actual decision. Looking forward to it.