Mulherin and O’Mahony stay silent on abortion vote

ON THE WAY OUT? ?Taoiseach Enda Kenny will move swiftly to appoint a successor to Lucinda Creighton, Minister for European Affairs, if she votes against the bill, as expected.

Mulherin and O’Mahony stay silent on abortion vote this Wednesday


Áine Ryan

TWO Mayo Government TDs were last night staying silent about how they will vote in the abortion bill, which comes before the DΡil tomorrow night (Wednesday). Both Deputies Michelle Mulherin and John O’Mahony, however, told The Mayo News yesterday that considerations about their future political careers will not influence how they vote on this final DΡil stage of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill.
It remains to be seen whether Government amendments – which further clarify the responsibilities of medical personnel – will satisfy both TDs, who, along with Minister for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton, have expressed serious reservations about aspects of the controversial legislation.  
Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday, Deputy Michelle Mulherin said she expected to meet Minister for Health, James Reilly today (Tuesday) in light of the amendments she had proposed.
She said, that while she welcomed ‘part of the Bill’, she was concerned about such aspects as term limits, the suicide clause and the objectivity of medical practitioners. She reiterated the fact that she wanted the Minister for Health to commit to putting certain verbal assurance made in the DΡil chamber into black-and-white print.
“I want to ensure that the legislation reflects a fair balance between the right to life of the mother and the unborn baby,” she said.
“This is a very difficult decision for me, as I have given a lot of my life to the Fine Gael party and have got great support from the grassroots. However, I am simply looking at this from a legal and medical perspective and the medical evidence I have heard has caused me to be concerned about the suicide clause,” Michelle Mulherin said.
She said her position was not a personal one, or based on a ‘conscience’ premise but rather on ‘compelling arguments that have been made by legal and medical experts’.
Responding to media speculation about the establishment by Fine Gael rebels of another political party, she said: “There is no justification for setting up a party just because one doesn’t agree with a piece of abortion legislation.”
Meanwhile, Deputy John O’Mahony said: “I am going to make up my mind on the bill itself and nothing else. I am not going to hypothesise now about the political implications.”
He told The Mayo News he was still waiting to read the final wording of the bill after the amendments are voted on.  
Reportedly, Taoiseach Enda Kenny will move swiftly to appoint a successor to junior minister Lucinda Creighton, a native of Mayo now based in Dublin, if she votes against the bill, as expected. Her opposition, on conscience grounds, took another twist over the weekend when she wrote a tweet accusing Minister James Reilly of misleading the public by saying on radio that Fine Gael’s intentions about the issue were clear during the 2011 General Election.  
She wrote: “Sorry Dr Reilly. Please do not mislead people. Our manifesto and programme for govt DID NOT commit FG Tds to this. Read it. Don’t make it up.”
She has tabled a series of amendments that would remove the risk of suicide as grounds for an abortion.
With four Fine Gael TDs already gone overboard, the prospect of losing Creighton, Mulherin and O’Mahony, all from the Taoiseach’s home county, as well as John Paul Phelan (Kilkenny), would be a serious blow.