In delivering the report of the Citizen’s Assembly to the Oireachtas, Justice Mary Laffoy urged TDs and Senators to pay due regard to its conclusions. “I urge the members of the Oireachtas to view their recommendations with the respect and due consideration they deserve,” she said. The report consisted of an 83 page document and two large appendices running to over 1000 pages and recommended a widespread liberalisation of the country’s abortion laws. An Oireachtas committee is to consider the report and propose a concrete political path forward. A referendum is expected in 2018, and commentators are already cautioning about the political sensitivities involved, not least because Pope Francis is due to visit Dublin in August next year to attend the World Meeting of Families.