A Church of Ireland bishop has strongly attacked the "systemic spinelessness" of politicians in failing to enact legislation to allow for abortion following the X case.
The legislature has failed to address its responsibilities and instead expects people to put "blunt phrases" in the Constitution or judges to do "its dirty work", said the Bishop of Ossory, Right Rev Michael Burrows.
The bishop made the remarks in a homily delivered to a packed congregation, including the papal nuncio, Most Rev Dr Giuseppe Lazzarotto, and senior judges who were attending a service at St Michan's Church of Ireland in Dublin to mark the opening of the new law term.
He said the failure to legislate on the X case - where the Supreme Court allowed a minor to travel to the UK in 1992 for an abortion on the basis that her life and health were at risk - and other issues relating to human embryology had left doctors, lawyers and others floundering. This was due to the "hypocritical and ostrich-like" stance adopted by politicians.
Although he would love to see the impatience of judges leading to political activity, he was aware judicial tactics had to be "more circumspect" and apparently apolitical.
The Government yesterday declined to respond to the bishop's comments. There are no plans in the programme for government to introduce any such legislation.
Labour Party spokeswoman on health Jan O'Sullivan said there was more than an element of truth in what Bishop Burrows had said.
"At every election since 1992 the Labour Party has included in its manifesto a commitment to introduce legislation to give effect to the Supreme Court decision in the X case, but unfortunately no other party in the Dáil has been willing to touch this issue," she said.
She added that recent opinion polls had indicated a significant shift in public opinion on this issue. "Notwithstanding the emotive reaction abortion frequently produces, the Dáil and Seanad will have to face up to its responsibilities in this area," she said.
The bishop's comments drew a critical response from the Pro-Life Campaign, which said his "inflammatory language" would generate more heat than light.
Dr Audrey Dillon of the Pro-Life Campaign said: "there is nothing 'hypocritical and ostrich-like' about seeking as a society to respect the dignity and humanity of the unborn child, while at the same time putting supports in place to assist women in crisis pregnancy".
The bishop also referred to situations where a law, such as the now abolished constitutional prohibition on divorce, was maintained at the expense of unhappy people and in the teeth of the reality that some marriages actually die.
The truth is often much bigger than our own words or the principles we so eloquently defend, he said. "Powerful people have decided that what consenting adults of the same gender do of an evening is almost as big a theological problem as the truth of the Resurrection."