KENNY WELCOMES CONFIRMATION OF X CASE LEGISLATION

Posted on March 8, 2013 3:57 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Seán Kenny, the Dublin Bay North Labour TD and member of the Oireachtas Justice Committee, has today said that the timetable provided by the Government to the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe that confirms legislation for the X Case will be passed in July shows that the Government is following through on the Expert Group Report and on the ABC judgement, as well as the X Case itself, after a delay of over 20 years.

"The indication that the bill would be enacted before the summer recess was included in a communication issued this afternoon by the Council of Europe's committee, and they also said that they welcomed the timetable presented by the Government which foresees a bill being published in April and that the Bill itself would be introduced in the Parliament in the summer and enacted by the end of July."

"Following on from the ABC case, which resulted in the finding that Ireland had a legal obligation to put in place and implement a legislative or regulatory regime providing effective and accessible procedures whereby pregnant women can establish whether or not they are entitled to a lawful abortion - that is, an abortion according to the X Case judgement.

"Labour had said before the last General Election that it would legislate for the X Case. The Government had committed to setting up an Expert Group to clarify the way forward on the issue, and that work was done last summer. Events in Galway late last year added to calls for legislation on the X Case.

"There has been a delay of over 20 years in dealing with this issue. Dáil Eireann has, in my view, acted far too slowly in taking action. I have been absolutely inundated with messages from my constituents, most of them women, urging legislation. I am delighted that this Government and the Dáil of which I am a part, is now finally dealing with this issue and dealing with it in a comprehensive fashion.