The Workers Party has slammed what it says is Fine Gael’s decision to delegate women’s healthcare to a handful of people.

Reacting to this afternoon’s announcement that the Citizens’ Assembly would not be recommending the repeal of the eighth amendment, Cllr. Éilis Ryan (Workers Party) said:

“What we have here is yet another example of our state being more inclined to outsource decision-making to an external body. The details of how abortion should be introduced in Ireland are complex, and it is the responsibility of the state – with proper medical advice –  to legislate for this, in order to safeguard women.

“It is entirely inappropriate to rely on a handful of citizens to go through the many complex scenarios, term limits and permutations and determine which should and should not be constitutionally barred. But of course, as we saw last week with the National Maternity Hospital, Fine Gael have no interest in taking on real responsibility and decision-making.”

The councillor called for the government to proceed with a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment, saying:

“The options which will now be put before the citizens assembly are infinitely complex, is a complex matter and it is neither fair nor possible to expect a tiny group of people without medical expertise to assess and make recommendations on such a breadth and depth of issues.