My partner and I flew into Dublin for her to vote yesterday. My daughter and her partner (both temporarily on assignment in France) flew in from Paris too. We were nervous of the result because the anti choice side were well funded, most of it from fundamentalist rightwing US bible bashers (the same sort of Americans that funded IRA bombers) and well organised by extremist Catholics in Opus Dei and a particularly nasty organisation called the Iona Institute. However our fears were unfounded. The Irish electorate has given the Irish Catholic Church the kick up the arse (as we say) that it has deserved all my lifetime. Flying back to Nice later today with the warm glow of a job well done.
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Sorry John, didnāt see Your post. 
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About time too
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definitely yes.
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Northern Ireland next.
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The right result.
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As far as I am concernedā¦I want it to be a resounding decision, one way or the otherā¦ no playing around with figures, nearly this or nearly thatā¦
If the vast majority vote for whatever (and I mean vast) ā¦ that is fair enough for meā¦ that is Democracy at its best.
Predicted overall +/-70% in favour of repeal, currently 68%. My constituency 68% turnout and 77% for repeal.
I suppose it reopens the question about whether people who have chosen no longer to live in a country should have the right to determine what happens there.
But Iām old-fashioned, believing that children are better off being born than not. Looking at the tidal wave of abortions in the UK, itās difficult for me to see things have improved since 1967.
I see the Liberal press is reporting 66% as a landslide 
The thing is there is now a choice which there wasnāt before. No-one us forced to gave an abortion if they donāt want one or donāt agree with them. Before one sides attitudes was forced on others who didnāt agree with it.
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The pro-abortion camp calls itself āpro-choiceā - and those against abortion āpro-lifeā - so that they can present their opinion as something positive. Having a choice is only good if the thing you can choose is a good thing. The statistics show an enormous number of abortions are now performed in the UK, far more than there would be if the law were applied honestly.
But in the mass media, broadcast and Internet especially, you hear only one view, which is that abortion should be available.
The RC Church behaved as badly in the past as many outside the church did, but they valued all life, including unborn babies.
Obviously you donāt think the choice is a good one but thatās your opinion. What do you want? I disagree that the RC church valued all life. They didnāt value the life of the woman, especially if her child was illegitimate or all those young children abused in various religious establishments. They want to force their views on others-believers or not.
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I was adopted in 1947, so I have a particular interest in this debate about abortion.
A woman should have the right as to whether she bears a child or not.
In the search for my father I came across a woman who was a baby in Lancaster at the same time as myself.
She was adopted by a Roman Catholic family from Liverpool.
That child had to go to a RC family, the same church which which denied her support and branded her mother as morally lax.
Enough said.
Maybe Theresa May will be found to have Northern Ireland engraved upon her heart when she dies.
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Abortion is a devolved issue as regards to NI.
It should be a Womans choice, but, āPleaseā, donāt use it as a method of contraception, there are others available 
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The law in Ireland is quite clear Stevie. If one has lived aboard for less than eighteen months and one intends to return to live in ireland within that eighteen months one has a vote.
Nobdy is āpro abortionā Steve, that is just a term used by extremists to denigate pro choice people. Sadly the Irish Catholic Chuch values unborn zygotes more than they ever valued born āillegitimateā children and their mothers. This is well documented. Ireland gained its freedom from Britain in 1922 only to have it given away again by weak politicians to the Catholic Church after the 1932 World Wide Eucharistic Congress in Dublin. It has taken since then for Ireland to wrestle back control from these unelected religious fanatics. Thatās why the vote last Friday was so important.
Not for long it wonāt be Tim The DUP want to be so British, except when it doesnāt suit them.
"Under the Sewel convention, the UK government has agreed that it will not normally legislate on matters that are the responsibility of devolved administrations without their consent.
But the government is set to ignore this for the first time in Scotland, pushing ahead with the EU withdrawal bill even though the Scottish government is opposed, and Mayās stance on abortion is partly motivated by a desire not to antagonise the DUP, who provide the votes that give the Tories their majority and who are strongly opposed to liberalising Northern Irelandās abortion lawsā
Totally agreed Bill. It is totally bizarre that the Catholic Church in Ireland has fought tooth and nail against abortion AND sex education and contraception. We can only reduce the former by investing heavily in the other two.