Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has indicated he will help the Government guillotine debate on abortion so that legislation making it widely available will not be delayed.

He condemned recent filibustering by a group of rural TDs on road safety laws and said he will not allow the same thing happen for abortion.

The potential for using parliamentary debate to delay bills has developed because of the Government’s minority position in the Dáil. Mr Martin had repeatedly objected to use of the guillotine – deployed to shorten debate – by the last Fine Gael-Labour government, which had a large majority.

He told a lunch hosted by the Association of European Journalists that the “will of the people” must be respected concerning the referendum. The Fianna Fáil leader said “soundings” he had taken indicated there will be “nowhere near” the opposition to abortion legislation as there had been to proposals to tighten drink-driving laws. “The drink-driving one was frankly ridiculous,” he said. “But in respect of any Bill, where there is excessive filibustering and obvious filibustering, there is always a provision to call a halt to that by a simple motion in standing orders.”