‘Varadkar’s tarnished legacy will be as the Taoiseach who opened the floodgates to massive abortion numbers’, says PLC

Responding to Leo Varadkar’s announcement that he is to resign as Taoiseach, Pro Life Campaign spokesperson Eilís Mulroy said:

“In his resignation speech, Mr Varadkar referenced his pride in having been the Taoiseach who campaigned for the removal of Ireland’s Eighth Amendment, which ushered in the current abortion legislation and has been responsible for Ireland’s skyrocketing abortion rate. In 2018, the year of the referendum, there were 2,911 Irish abortions; however, in 2023, there have been over 10,000 abortions. Mr Varadkar has overseen this dramatic increase and refused to take any steps to reduce the country’s spiralling abortion rate.

“Last year, he acknowledged that he would like to see an Ireland with fewer abortions but presided over the disastrous Three-Year Review process. The report issued by the Three-Year Review chairperson made sweeping proposed changes to the Irish abortion law, which would if given effect usher in an even more extreme abortion regime. The Three-Year Review process ignored pro-life concerns and only engaged with unreflective campaigning groups and NGOs, like the National Women’s Council. As Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar is mostly responsible for this and as the results of the ‘family’ and ‘care’ referendums on 8 March show, the NGOs that he put so much trust in adopt very narrow ideologically driven positions that are completely out of step with public opinion.

“The next Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael must engage in serious soul-searching about what are the authentic values of their party and government. The reckless pro-abortion policies pursued by the current government must be reconsidered and the Three Year-Review’s extreme recommendations should be immediately shelved.”