TWO Labour TDs, who were secretly recorded by a pro-life activist purporting to be pro-choice, have revealed their party's intention to further liberalise Ireland's abortion laws once legislation for the X Case has been passed.
Dublin North Central TD Aodhan O Riordain said the X Case legislation was only "a starting point" but added that he said he would not state this publicly, while Wicklow TD Anne Ferris said that attempts to widen the legislation would commence in the next Government, should Labour remain in office.
Ms Ferris said: "We will legislate certainly for what the European Court has told us to and then we can go further than that . . . we get the first part done and then we will go on to the next bit."
She added: "People aren't going to vote Fianna Fail back into power again, so I would say then next term it will happen."
In relation to the X Case legislation, Mr O Riordain said: "It is a starting point. Once you get that . . . then you can move . . . and of course if I'm on the radio and somebody says to me, 'It's a starting point for abortion on demand', I'm gonna say, 'No, of course it isn't – it is what it is.'"
The Labour TDs' comments will cause outrage this weekend among Fine Gael TDs and senators, who are already riven by the issue.
The most commonly expressed fear in Fine Gael is that legislating for the X Case will "open the door" to abortion on demand.
The Fine Gael Parliamentary Party will be particularly incensed by Ms Ferris's recorded comment that Labour leader Eamon Gilmore had told the Taoiseach that Mr Kenny "has to whip his people into line".
Edited transcripts of the conversations, which were recorded at the TDs' constituency offices last June, are published in the Sunday Independent today.