Dáil debates the 3 day wait...the house says yes but Government majority say no. Also Madame la Guillotine and Fine Gaels "unified island'

I suppose the story of the week, guys, this week, has been that, uh, Sinn Féin private member's motion on, uh, abortion, uh, eliminating the three-day wait, uh, and government having a free vote, and interesting the way it all played out.

Yeah, it's a curious situation, isn't it, where you could have a piece of legislation making its way through the Oireachtas that doesn't have a backing of the majority of government.

Is that a healthy sign of parliamentary democracy, or is it a sign that the leaders of both parties are on a different wavelength, uh, to the vast majority of, of their backbenchers and indeed, uh, some of their ministers as well? So it's notable, but I think that's the way it probably is going to proceed now.

And while it's not directly linked to Micheál Martin's leadership, he certainly doesn't walk away from the week, uh, any stronger than he was-

Mm-hmm

... going into it.

Uh, quite, quite the opposite, in fact, even if it was always gonna be a difficult one, a- and there would have been no merit, really, do you feel, in having any discussion at the parliamentary party meeting, given that there is a free vote for that very reason, that it's a matter of conscience anyway.

Were there any surprises, Barry, in, you know, who came out in voting, having exercised the free vote on the Fianna Fáil side? Any surprises in how people went, or, or does it kinda reflect where we were at in 2018?

Yeah, and I think there were, there were 11 survivors, weren't there, from that photograph that's often referenced from the 2018, uh, abortion referendum.

Uh, 11 TDs who had then advocated a "No" vote were there last night.

So perhaps mayb- maybe no real surprise in how things went, but we were interested to see the votes or the intention of the Justice Minister, Jim O'Callaghan.

It wasn't known until he actually cast his vote, and he voted no in last night's, uh, proposal.

You also had the Social Protection Minister, Darragh Cleary, doing likewise, the Housing Minister, James Brown, as well.

Uh, so I suppose it was a surprise to see so many members of cabinet, uh, on the Fianna Fáil side, five in all, vote no.

Uh, and it does as well open up what w- will happen potentially later this year because in an overall sense, you had six cabinet ministers last night voting no across Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and independents, albeit some were absent.

But again, what would happen if Jennifer Carroll McNeill is to bring this bill to the cabinet table later this year?

Because what happens? It's a Sinn Féin private member's motion.

It's been passed by a majority in the Dáil.

Mm.

So what happens now?

It goes to the committee stage to, to thrash around any potential amendments, uh, and then b- back again into the Oireachtas.

And, uh, the, the, the f- the feeling from Jennifer Carroll McNeill's side yesterday was they were saying, "Look, we, there's not much to do here.

It'll have...

It'll go through the, the committee, and we expect this legislation to be enacted by the end of the year.

We're happy to run with what Sinn Féin has put on the table," essentially.