Dr. Seán Ó Domhnaill:

I am going to answer the questions in regard to why it was, after what we believed to be an absolute ban on abortion in Ireland going back to 1983, that the day after that referendum was passed in 1983, Mary Robinson, when addressing abortion campaigners at the time, reassured them that, despite the fact they had been well beaten in that referendum, they should not worry because abortion would be legalised in Ireland by the European courts within 15 years. Obviously, her 15 years was wrong, but it would appear as though the current Government is trying to impose abortion through using a non-binding recommendation of the European Court of Human Rights.

The second point is that, in terms of lobbying techniques, to a large degree, most groups will lobby depending on the seriousness of the issue they are dealing with. We are dealing with one of the most serious issues there is. After the Second World War, when people looked at what was seen in the death camps, pictures were shown, and continued to be shown all over the world, of corpses piled upon corpses piled upon corpses, because they said we must make sure this never happens again. If one believes, as the vast majority of people in this country do, that abortion involves the killing of an innocent human being then, if one does not like the reality of it, do not legalise it.