Irish Lawmakers Vote to Allow Abortion, Part of Landmark Liberal Shift

Irish Lawmakers Vote to Allow Abortion, Part of Landmark Liberal Shift

By Ed O’Loughlin
Dec. 6, 2018

DUBLIN — Fighting off last-ditch resistance, Irish lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a bill introducing free and legal abortion to a nation that was long a bastion of staunchly conservative Catholicism, seven months after voters repealed a constitutional ban on abortion.

An often heated session of the Parliament’s lower house on Wednesday had to be extended several times, as a small number of members — mainly independent conservatives — talked at length on dozens of amendments, almost all of which were voted down by large majorities. The bill’s opponents attempted to prolong the debate even further, which could have derailed the government’s plan to make abortion available in January.

continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/world/europe/ireland-legal-abortion-vote.html

Ireland – Miriam Lord: It’s like the abortion referendum never happened

Miriam Lord: It’s like the abortion referendum never happened
Mattie McGrath blew a gasket at suggestions he might have been filibustering

Dec 5, 2018
Miriam Lord
...
And once more, all the issues which have already been examined and discussed inside out and upside down in both houses of the Oireachtas and in various committee rooms will be discussed for as long as certain Senators can possibly make it until the Bill finally passes into law.

But there was going to be no rehashing in the Seanad until certain TDs had rehashed themselves to a procedural standstill in the Dáil. They had no intention of going quietly.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/miriam-lord-it-s-like-the-abortion-referendum-never-happened-1.3721649

Ireland – Delaying tactics on abortion legislation must end – O’Connell

Delaying tactics on abortion legislation must end – O’Connell

4th December 2018
Kate O'Connell, TD

The delaying tactics employed in the Oireachtas on the abortion debate must come to an end, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Deputy Kate O’Connell, who was a member of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment, said it is time to give the 66.4% of people who voted Yes the change they voted for.

Continued: https://www.finegael.ie/delaying-tactics-on-abortion-legislation-must-end-oconnell/

04.12.2018