Next year, Ireland will be faced with a reckoning the likes of which it has not weathered in many decades.
As the country prepares for a referendum on Article 40.3.3, widely known as the Eighth Amendment, many are braced for a debate that threatens to cause deep ill-feeling between friends, workplace colleagues and even family members.
Such a fractious debate can, however, be avoided. Senator Catherine Noone, Chairperson of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment, has provided a blueprint for how this can be achieved.
Upon her appointment to the position, Noone was described in headlines as a “pro-choice Senator.” What was meant is that Noone holds a similar position as the majority of the Irish electorate, who have repeatedly turned in the same answers to poll after poll on the subject for the past several years: Irish voters do not support Ireland’s current wide-ranging ban on abortion. They do not want the Eighth Amendment to remain.
Throughout proceedings, Noone studiously avoided terms like “pro-choice” and “pro-life,” an astute aversion to phrases that are deeply unhelpful when it comes to the repealing the Eighth Amendment. After all, there are many factions within the broader pro-repeal movement who do believe in certain limits, such as gestational limits, which is precisely why the Committee and Citizens’ Assembly have now both recommended that abortion be made lawful up to 12 weeks gestation without any regard as to reasons.
There are also those who would describe themselves as ardently pro-life who do not support Ireland’s current ban on terminations in the case of fatal-foetal abnormalities.
On this count, it would be wise to follow Noone’s suit and leave such terms to the Americans. The wording of the eventual referendum to be printed on ballots across Ireland will be far more complicated than “Abortion: yes or no?” and identifying camps as “pro-choice” and “pro-life” will dangerously obscure the nuance of the debate.
Noone has been largely congratulated on her performance as chair by representatives from parties that would not generally be bosom friends with representatives of the government. Bríd Smith, of the People Before Profit Alliance, commended the Senator, saying “It wasn’t an easy job, but [you] did a great job as Chair, so well done.”
Independent Senator Lynn Ruane similarly expressed her “gratitude” for Noone’s performance, a sentiment echoed by delegates from Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin.
However, it has been her calm and steady approach to criticism from within the committee itself that could inform the public strategy for facilitating the most honest and informative debate. Plenty of Irish journalists, predominantly male ones, have devoted a lot of time to giving amateur PR advice to repeal activists, instructing them to somehow keep calm in the face of incendiary vitriol and misinformation.
Noone may be one of the few among us blessed with saintly patience, but it is her steady approach that public figures, the government and the media should take on board. Despite harsh attacks from certain members of the committee, non-attendance from others and even one high-tempered walk-out, Noone managed to keep facts front and centre throughout.
Many ad hominem arguments will arise next year in an attempt to drag the debate into the mud, but it is incumbent upon all those in the public discourse — the media and public figures especially — to act as society’s windshield wipers and allow the public to keep their eyes on the facts, just as the Citizens’ Assembly and Eighth Amendment Committee were able to.
In one heated exchange with Deputy Mattie McGrath, Noone was told “In relation to yourself chair, I don’t think the committee was conducted fairly or impartially.” Deputy McGrath went on to allege that it was “wholly inappropriate” for Noone to engage in a panel on abortion as part of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Noone refuted McGrath’s account, arguing that the committee she’d been part of had involved speakers from all sides of the spectrum. She concluded “I’m a member of the committee, I’m expected to be there, I’m informing myself. What’s the problem?”
It was part of a broader pattern of digs that McGrath appeared to swing at Noone. On the final day of the committee’s deliberations, McGrath told reporters “The fat lady hasn’t sang here yet and I’m not talking about the chairperson of the committee or anybody like that… Best not to say it like that, I’m just saying that as an old saying.”
Taken in light of McGrath’s history of levelling accusations of bias and impartiality at Noone, it was a strange outburst to say the least. It was later reported that he had called Senator Noone to apologise for the remarks.
Throughout the Oireachtas’ Committee on the Eighth Amendment, Senator Catherine Noone has exemplified the abortion debate that Ireland needs to have. Her refusal to be lured into attacks on her character and the premise of the committee allowed it to run smoothly and reach its recommendations a week in advance of its December 20 deadline, and facilitated a debate that allowed several among the committee to change their stances on the issue.
Just because abortion is a matter of conscience does not mean that facts must be overshadowed by fracas, Noone has proven that.
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