It has been revealed that two TDs from Fine Gael were denied the right to vote according to their conscience on the abortion zones bill by Taoiseach and party leader Leo Varadkar.
On Wednesday, 113 of the TDs in Dáil Éireann voted to support the so-called ‘Safe Access Zones’ bill, which would jail anyone who prays silently, or holds a sign saying ‘Can I help’, or engages in any activities which might ‘influence’ a woman seeking an abortion, within 100 metres of centres where abortions might be carried out – which includes every GP clinic in the country, not just hospitals.
Only 10 TDs voted against the zones: Michael Collins, Michael and Danny Healy-Rae, Mattie McGrath, Michael Fitzmaurice, Noel Grealish, Michael Lowry, Carol Nolan, Peter Fitzpatrick – all independents – and Peadar Tóibín of Aontú.
The Irish Independent has reported that bankbench Fine Gael TDs Ciarán Cannon and John Paul Phelan made a request for a ‘free vote’ at a private Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday night shortly before the Dáil vote. The outlet reported that a Government Chief Whip said TDs “were basically told there was a whip” on the vote.
The paper reports that Mr Cannon condemned the legislation as “draconian” – noting that Garda Commissioner Drew Harris described the law as “reductant” and unnecessary, while Mr Phelan said he assumed a free vote would be allowed.
The Garda Commissioner previously said there was “no evidence to suggest that there is threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour directed towards persons utilising such services.”
Commissioner Harris has also pointed out that existing public order laws were “sufficient to deal with any cases of harassment should they arise.”
The paper reports, however, that government Chief Whip Hildegarde Naughton informed the meeting that safe access zones legislation was the “programme for government” meaning there would be no provision for a free vote.
The Independent said that sources at the meeting said Mr Varadkar was in agreement with Ms Naughton’s comments. It comes despite Leo Varadkar saying last year that the censorship zones bill was running into “real difficulties” around balancing constitutional rights.
“They were basically told there is a whip on it,” a source is reported as saying. Both TDs ended up voting with the Government in the Dáil later that night.
It is reported that Mr Cannon argued that the proposed new offences laid out in the legislation are already provided for in existing law, and that the Gardaí “have every power necessary to prosecute people engaging in any kind of harassment.”
He said that the Department of Health had received no request from any abortion provider to develop the abortion zones legislation, the Independent reported. He argued that Fine Gael should have a free vote as a matter of conscience, and it amounted to a case of “whether one believes that people’s right to freely assemble as they see fit should be undermined by legislation that no one wants”.
During the campaign to repeal Ireland’s eighth amendment, Mr Cannon indicated that he would vote no, and that his outlook was influenced by suffering the loss of a stillborn daughter.
“With just seven weeks left in my wife’s pregnancy, our little girl passed away and was denied her right to live her life, a life that I believe would have been filled with love, laughter and potential,” he said at the time.
In an op-ed for the Irish Independent two months prior to the referendum, he penned:
“When I walk into my local polling station to vote in the referendum how can I forget the lost potential of my daughter?
“In removing the right of thousands of Irish children every year to reach their own potential, to live long and fulfilling lives, I would be dishonouring her memory, and I just can’t do that. There must be a better way, one that respects the rights of all.”
The abortion zones bill will now proceed to Committee stage.