SF delegates urged to discuss abortion issue

Delegates at the Sinn Féin ardfheis at the weekend will be asked to endorse a motion to "stop ignoring the abortion issue".

Delegates at the Sinn Féin ardfheis at the weekend will be asked to endorse a motion to "stop ignoring the abortion issue".

While the motion from Sinn Féin cumainn in Dublin and Waterford does not specifically favour any particular abortion policy, it calls for a special policy conference to discuss the matter.

Sinn Féin's current stance on the question includes a clause stating that the party is "opposed to the attitudes and forces in society which compel women to have abortions and criminalise those who make this decision".

The motion is among 306 for debate at the ardfheis in the RDS in Ballsbridge. The party said at a briefing in Dublin that 2,000 delegates are expected to attend.

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The Sinn Féin candidate for Dublin in the European elections, Ms Mary-Lou McDonald, said incidents such as the linking of the Provisional IRA with the abduction of the dissident republican figure, Mr Bobby Tohill, were part of a campaign of "demonisation and vilification".

Representatives from the US embassy and 15 others have been invited to attend the ardfheis. There was no invitation to the British embassy.

While many of the motions deal with the political situation in the North, dozens relate to politics south of the Border. One motion seeks an "absolute commitment" of opposition to the privatisation of publicly-owned companies and institutions in the event of a coalition deal bringing the party to government. Another states complete opposition to social partnership.

One Dublin cumann wants the party to call on the Government to disclose the names and whereabouts of sex offenders and paedophiles when they are released from prison while another motion demands Government subsidy of contraceptives. Others call for the abolition of the Seanad and the disqualification from the artists' tax exemption scheme of artists who earn over €100,000 per annum.

There is also a motion congratulating the IRA for "its initiatives to help commence and support the development of the peace process and to facilitate a sustainable process of change to build the peace".