Both anti and pro-abortion TDs will continue their attempts to amend the abortion legislation when it returns to the Dáil for report stage later this month. Last week the bill passed its committee stage after three days of hearings when over 180 amendments to the bill were considered. Sixteen of those were put by pro-life TDs. Among those rejected were amendments calling for a specific ban on aborting unborn babies with disabilities and disposing of foetal remains in a respectful manner.

Minister for Health Simon Harris accepted just one of the amendments, insisting that voters had backed the referendum on the basis of the draft legislation he published in the spring. The Referendum Commission said that we were voting only on whether to keep or repeal the 8th and not on abortion legislation. He accepted a clause that will mean the operation of the legislation will be reviewed after three years, rather than five. However, Mr Harris has promised TDs from Fianna Fáil and People Before Profit that he was willing to consider some of the amendments which were pro-choice in spirit.

Nonetheless TDs on both sides of the debate say they will seek to reintroduce many of the amendments at the next stage of the legislative process, when the Bill is considered for the final time by the Dáil before moving on to the Seanad, if passed.