Senior Fine Gael figures have begun to cast doubt on the wisdom of the Government's plans for an abortion referendum, but a final party view will await a meeting next week of the Parliamentary Party.
The party's front-bench meeting, chaired by the Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, yesterday heard a preliminary view on the Government's proposal from a leading senior counsel, Mr John McMenamin.
Former Fine Gael leader Mr Alan Dukes said the Government was trying to achieve four aims: to legally define abortion, reverse the X case judgment, protect existing medical practices and safeguard the continued use of IUDs and the "morning after" pill.
"Three of those do not need a referendum. They could be done by legislation. The X case is the only one that does require it. That will be the significant issue going before the people," he told The Irish Times.
He said he was doubtful about removing suicide as a ground for abortion: "Personally, I would be very, very wary about that because I think that... it is not the kind of thing that society can judge.
It is a very individual and very personal decision. I do not think that we should address this as anything other than an attempt by the Government to make this one change."
Cork South West TD Mr Jim O'Keeffe, who is also a solicitor, was equally dubious, particularly about the emphasis in the legislation on implantation in the womb, rather than conception.
He forecasted that the Government could clash with Catholic bishops, who made it clear before the All-Party Committee on the Constitution that the church still held to the view that life begins at conception. "Seven hundred years of Thomas Aquinas has been thrown out the window. This is totally new."
The decision to delay a formal response is an indication of the difficulties the issue poses for Fine Gael.
