Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The issue of a human right to life is a devolved issue under the Good Friday Agreement yet the Northern Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis, has driven a coach and four through devolution and the Good Friday Agreement and sought to introduce an extreme form of abortion legislation on the people of the North of Ireland against their will. Shockingly, this has been done with the active lobbying of Sinn Féin and the SDLP. For 200 years republicans have stated that London has no business legislating in any part of Ireland yet Sinn Féin has actively lobbied for this law to come into force in the North. Colum Eastwood and Claire Hanna have reversed the policy of the SDLP that goes back to John Hume and sought to actively campaign for the commissioning of this British abortion legislation.

In every poll carried out in the North over the last number of years the majority of the people agreed that the issue of abortion should be decided in Stormont. Even those in support of abortion agree with that. Every time this vote has come up in Stormont, the representatives of the people of the North have voted against abortion being introduced into the North. Even last week, the representatives of the people of the North of Ireland in Stormont voted against that extreme abortion provision from Britain that abortion should be made available up until birth in the case of disability. We in Aontú are in communication with our legal advisers on whether we can bring a case in protection of the Good Friday Agreement against the Northern Secretary of State. What has the Taoiseach done to defend the Good Friday Agreement and devolution on this issue?

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