Fianna Fáil as a party is now synonymous with “support for abortion on demand” following Micheál Martin’s speech on Thursday, a leading anti-abortion group has said. The leader of the party is so closely identified with that the party,” Ms Uí Bhriain told The Irish Times. DefectionsPro Life Campaign spokeswoman Cora Sherlock said the organisation’s office had been fielding calls from disgruntled Fianna Fáil members all day on Friday, but she stopped short of presaging wide-scale defections from the party. “There’ll be some consolation for the membership of Fianna Fáil that by the looks of it it doesn’t seem that the majority of Fianna Fáil TDs are going to support him,” she said. Ms Sherlock added that it is “too early” to talk about endorsing candidates for the next election given the impending referendum on abortion.

Source: The Irish Times January 19, 2018 19:30 UTC