Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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58. To ask the Minister for Health his plans in respect of constitutional referenda in 2018. [51729/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Government has put in place a process to examine possible changes to Article 40.3.3 of the constitution.

The Government established a Citizen’s Assembly, in line with its Programme for Partnership Government commitment, to consider a number of matters including constitutional reform. The Assembly first considered the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Article 40.3.3), and submitted its final report, setting out its recommendations, to the Oireachtas on 29 June 2017.

The Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, chaired by Senator Catherine Noone, was established to consider the Citizens’ Assembly report and recommendations. The Committee reported its conclusions and recommendations to both Houses of the Oireachtas on Wednesday, 20 December 2017. A majority of Committee members recommended that change is needed to extend the grounds for lawful termination of pregnancy in the State, and that in order to effect change Article 40.3.3 should be removed from the Constitution. However, diverging from the Citizens’ Assembly’s view which believed Article 40.3.3 should be replaced in the Constitution with a provision giving exclusive authority to the Oireachtas to legislate on the issue of abortion, the Joint Committee recommended that Article 40.3.3 be repealed simpliciter.

At a special Cabinet meeting on 29 January, the Government approved the holding of a referendum on Article 40.3.3 in early summer 2018 subject to the timely passage of a Constitutional Amendment Bill on the matter by the Houses of the Oireachtas.

I will now prepare a Referendum Bill to amend the Constitution. The Bill will propose that 40.3.3 of the Constitution is deleted in its entirety and include an additional clause into the Constitution confirming that the Oireachtas may regulate for the termination of pregnancy. The jurisdiction of the courts will not be ousted by this text, and it will not restrict rights of access to the courts. Legislation enacted post-amendment would remain subject to review by the courts like any other legislation.

The Government also noted my intention to prepare a General Scheme of a Bill to provide for termination of pregnancy based on the recommendations of the Report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (subject to such amendments as may be required for legal or operational reasons). I have also undertaken to return to Government with a policy paper on relevant matters in early March.