Contraception: Although family planning clinics now open on Sundays to provide the morning-after pill, it was a very different situation 30 years ago for those seeking contraceptives.
In March 1974 the Fine Gael- Labour coalition introduced a Bill allowing the sale of contraceptives to married people. However, it was defeated in July, with the taoiseach, Mr Liam Cosgrave, voting against it.
Before its defeat, the taoiseach was bombarded with letters opposing the Bill. One mother of six from Drimnagh wrote to Mr Cosgrave urging that a referendum be held. "The papers are trying to push it through, particularly the Irish Independent," she wrote. "Please keep cool, the people are behind you. Should it be passed, the children of our land will not thank you. Please heed a mother who foresees nothing but evil should this go ahead."
Another woman strongly objected to "anyone in the Dáil making any decision about this matter on my behalf. We had a referendum for EEC membership and for Article 44. This highly important moral issue must be put to the Irish people for their decision".
A doctor from the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, warned about the "permissive use" of contraceptives. The passing of the Bill would do huge damage to people's commitment to the value system of the Christian faith "which they have steadfastly held on to in face of tremendous difficulties for over four hundred years," wrote Dr Patrick Cassin. "The architects of our present freedom were convinced of the value system of Christianity but the present transition of our people is toward a humanist society with the consequent loss of their faith. As such they would be no different from English people."
Some 37 parents of children who made their Confirmation in Tipperary in 1974 urged Mr Cosgrave "to do all in your power to prevent its passage".
When the Bill was being drawn up the attorney general suggested there be a provision to allow a garda ask people suspected of having illegal contraceptives if they were married. If someone said they were married, the garda should be able to ask where and when the marriage took place.
However, the minister for justice, Mr Patrick Cooney, rejected this suggestion. Gardaí would still have to prove that the contraceptive was purchased, he said. "Moreover, the provision, as far as it goes, could perhaps be criticised as (a) an unjustified invasion of privacy and (b) an attempt to transfer the onus of proof . . ."
In a memo to the government, Mr Cooney said the liberalisation of contraception laws would help the case for a united Ireland. "From the point of view of relations with Protestants in Northern Ireland, it proposes to liberalise our laws sufficiently, in my opinion, to meet what would be likely, on the available evidence, to constitute their wishes in relation to the laws to apply in a future united Ireland."
In the Dáil Mr Cooney said he had "clear evidence" that there was a black market in the sale of contraceptives. Firms were using street or telephone directories to get addresses to target people indiscriminately.
"It has been rather irately brought to my notice that one firm is enclosing a sample of its wares with the order form." He did not accept that single people had a right to contraceptives "because that implies a right to fornicate and in my opinion there is no such natural right".
The defeated Bill was drafted following the Supreme Court ruling on the McGee case in 1973. The court found that a law forbidding the importation, sale or advertising of contraceptives violated constitutional protections for privacy in marital affairs.
The 1979 Health (Family Planning) Act finally gave married people the right to buy contraceptives with medical prescriptions.
