The Taoiseach and Tánaiste have found themselves at odds with the majority of their TDs on the politically sensitive issue of abortion.
Government TDs were given a free vote – or a “vote of conscience” – in a Sinn Féin bill to remove the mandatory three-day wait for abortion services in early pregnancy.
The bill passed by 86 votes to 70 – but over 60% of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs voted against the proposal despite their party leaders publicly stating support.
Given what’s involved, there might be a reluctance to make last night’s vote overly party political. But still, it gives an insight into some of the dynamics developing on the Government and opposition benches.
Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin has been here before.
“I’m disappointed that Micheál just announced like that on the floor of the Dáil without letting any of us know – but he does have form in that regard,” said one well-respected Fianna Fáil figure yesterday.
The Taoiseach may have caught his TDs off guard by revealing his voting preference in the Dáil on Tuesday, but as TDs acknowledged yesterday, he did likewise prior to the 2018 abortion referendum when advocating a repeal vote.
And like last night, the majority of Fianna Fáil TDs had a different view to Mr Martin in 2018 too – with 11 TDs remaining from an oft-referenced photograph of Fianna Fáil representatives advocating a No vote on that occasion.
The bill passed by 86 votes to 70, but over 60% of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs voted against the proposal
The Taoiseach clearly gave his vote yesterday some thought; telling the Dáil how very few women “considered the waiting period to have been beneficial to their own decision making process”.
But this is the second time in less than a year that Mr Martin has found himself not fully in tune with his parliamentary party in a big vote, with more voting against Jim Gavin’s ill-fated Presidential candidature last September than he might have expected.
Thirty out of Fianna Fáil’s 48 TDs – including five Cabinet ministers – rejected the bill. Over 60% of TDs went against Mr Martin’s view.
Some claimed a yes vote last night was not in keeping with the party’s “rural conservative” base, with Aontú and Independent Ireland looking to cannibalise this vote.
And strikingly, two of those mentioned as Fianna Fáil leadership contenders, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary, voted against the bill. This might well be referenced in the weeks and months ahead.
While it was expected the majority Fianna Fáil TDs would vote ‘No’, the result on the Fine Gael benches took some by surprise.
At the start of yesterday, it appeared Fine Gael might narrowly back Sinn Féin’s proposal but as the day went on, more and more TDs – especially first-time TDs – came out to clarify that they would be voting against the bill.
When it came to it, 23 out of Fine Gael’s 38 TDs voted No. Like Fianna Fáil, over 60% went against their leader’s view.
Indeed, Simon Harris and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill were the only senior Fine Gael Cabinet ministers to support the bill – with Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke and Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon voting against.
The vote might also raise questions as to how Fine Gael can tend to both its urban and rural voter bases.
Of the 11 Fine Gael TDs who supported the proposition, 10 were based on the eastern seaboard including eight in Dublin.
Simon Coveney previously said there might not be Government support to repeal the Eighth Amendment if the period of reflection was not included
It must also be remembered that the three-day waiting period was introduced by then-minister for health Simon Harris in 2018 after then-tánaiste Simon Coveney said there might not be government support to repeal the Eighth Amendment if the period of reflection was not included.
Publicly, TDs said they and their constituents voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment because of that wait period. Privately, TDs said they wanted more explanation as to why the party’s stance had now suddenly altered.
“The vast majority of people voted to repeal the 8th amendment at the time based on the inclusion of the thee day wait”, said Fine Gael parliamentary party chair Micheál Carrigy to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
On the opposition side of the house, Sinn Féin and its Spokesperson on Health David Cullinane will claim this result as a major win with party leader Mary Lou McDonald taking to Instagram to state how it was “great news for women’s healthcare and now we’re going to work with other parties to get this over the line”.
Some of those other parties though might feel they’ve done most of that work already prior to Sinn Féin involvement.
People Before Profit brought forward an identical proposal at the start of the year but found itself unable to get Dáil time to put it to a vote of TDs.
A Social Democrats bill to remove the three day wait – but to also include wider reforms recommended in a 2023 expert review – was rejected last month after Sinn Féin TDs abstained on the matter.
In the aftermath, party leader Holly Cairns took aim at Sinn Féin, telling the Dáil that, “people who fought for repeal will be stunned at the approach that Sinn Féin is taking. I am stunned too”.
Mr Cullinane for his part argues more stakeholder engagement is necessary before the wider reforms in the Social Democrats proposal – which are backed by the Labour and Green parties – could be implemented.
Given the rural-urban differences in the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael votes last night, it will also be interesting to note how last night’s result might play out among Sinn Féin grassroots in rural constituencies especially.
Overall, sources close to Minister Carroll MacNeill say she will hope to enact the legislation by the end of the year.
However, given half of the Cabinet across Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independents posted a No vote last night, there might be much more to run on this politically emotive matter yet.