A vaguely worded assurance from the Department of Health that pro-life marches won’t be affected by new exclusion zone legislation has raised alarm.

Following a query from The Irish Catholic regarding so-called ‘safe-access zones’ around abortion providers, the department said in a statement: “There is no intention to criminalise bona fide protest marches which incidentally pass through safe access zones.”

Leader of Aontú Peadar Tóibín TD was sharply critical, saying the assurance it provided was “incredibly vague”.

“I would have serious concerns over the fact that we are potentially facing a situation where a human right, a right to life protest, could be refused by the Government on the main street of the capital city in our country while a protest supporting further deregulation of abortion could be allowed – so the Government would take a political decision on the objectives of a rally before a rally or a protest would happen,” he said.

“That is a very, very dangerous development, it’s a dystopian development in a liberal democracy, and I would appeal for the Government even at this stage to withdraw it.”