

Legislation to allow for abortion in the case of fatal foetal abnormality is to be introduced in the Dáil in Private Members time by Independent TD Clare Daly.

The Government will not oppose the introduction of the Protection of Life in Pregnancy (Amendment) (Fatal Foetal Abnormalities) Bill.

Ms Daly said 90 per cent of Irish people believed a pregnancy should be ended where the abnormality was such that the foetus could not survive outside the womb, “and the only argument against it is the unpublished opinion of the Attorney General, whom we are are told says it would be unconstitutional”.

Other legal experts including a former attorney general disagreed with this view, she said. “The only way to resolve the conflict is to introduce legislation and have the Supreme Court adjudicate it”.

Ms Daly said the previous attorney general had argued before the European Court of Human Rights that there was a tenable argument that the issue should be considered by domestic courts on the grounds that the foetus was not unborn for the purposes of article 40.3.3 of the Constitution.

The Dublin North TD said a number of Ministers had publicly said the issue should be add.

She said it mainly affected women with much wanted pregnancies, who experienced a devastating diagnosis that the foetus would not survive.