FIANNA FAIL has left open the option of holding another constitutional referendum on abortion amid signs of growing disarray in the party over the issue.
With fears mounting in the party that its general election campaign will be dogged by division and controversy over abortion, the parliamentary party chairman, Dr Rory O'Hanlon, yesterday pledged that, in government, it would not allow what he described as the "current unsatisfactory situation" to continue.
It also emerged last night that two anti-abortion activists, Dr Patricia Casey and Prof Bernadette Bonnar, are among the expert group set up by the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, to advise his party on all aspects of abortion, including legislative and constitutional questions.
Dr O'Hanlon's comments to journalists in Leinster House followed a front-bench meeting at which, party sources said, "a lot of plain speaking" was done over weekend remarks by the justice spokesman, Mr John O'Donoghue, who broke ranks and said he personally believed a referendum was the way forward.
Mr O'Donoghue's views have given rise to serious anxiety in Fianna Fail, and the party leader is understood to have expressed his displeasure to his Justice spokesman when the two met privately before the front-bench meeting.
After yesterday's meeting Mr O'Donoghue told The Irish Times he is going to "reserve any further personal comment" until the expert group appointed by the leader has reported back.
"I expressed a personal view in relation to how the matter could best be resolved... I was not expressing the party view. It was my personal view. That view is well-known and I have held it a long time under successive leaders of the party. Every member of the parliamentary party knows that," Mr O'Donoghue said.
With all parties seeking to put abortion on ice, at least until after the election, Mr O'Donoghue's remarks have embarrassed the leadership and put Fianna Fail, rather than the Government, in the hot seat on the issue.
After the front-bench deliberations, the Donegal TD, Dr Jim McDaid, also confirmed that there would be no more expressions of personal views by front-bench members on the matter. "I don't think, being on the front bench, that you can give your personal opinion," Dr McDaid said.
A statement issued through the Fianna Fail press office noted that the front bench had reiterated the party's "total" opposition to abortion, but Dr O'Hanlon subsequently explained that it intended to convey the fact that it was "unanimously" opposed to its introduction.
His party does favour abortion in certain medical circumstances and supports the practice in existence "for decades" that, in order to save the life of the mother, procedures can be conducted which would lead to the termination of the life of the foetus. These circumstances arose in the "classic case" of cancer of the womb and ectopic pregnancy, Dr O'Hanlon said.
He insisted that the issue was extremely complex and difficult and for this reason Mr Ahern had decided some time ago to establish a group of "outside eminent experts in the different relevant disciplines" to advise Fianna Fail.
According to Dr McDaid, Fianna Fail was not ruling out the possibility of a referendum as one" of a range of options it would consider as soon as the expert group reported.
He and Dr O'Hanlon said they were not aware of the membership, of the group or its terms of reference.
The abortion controversy is certain to continue today when Fianna Fail's Parliamentary Party considers the issue. Efforts to deflect the political heat generated by the issue back to the Government have already begun, and the Fianna Fail back-bench TD, Mr Ivor Callely, yesterday tabled a number of questions to the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, about his intentions in relation to an abortion referendum.
The All-Party Committee on the Constitution is meanwhile considering a submission from the Pro-Life Campaign which sets out what it considers an appropriate new wording to be included in Article 40.3.3. of the Constitution. The PLC suggests: "No law shall be enacted, and no provision of this Constitution shall be interpreted, to render induced abortion lawful in the State".