Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has addressed Ireland’s current abortion debate, stating “you cannot pretend to be a Catholic and leave aside a very important part of Catholic teaching” when choosing who to vote for in the upcoming election.

Speaking on Morning Ireland yesterday following the release of a joint statement by Ireland’s four Catholic Archbishops ahead of polling day, Dr Martin insisted that neither he nor his fellow prelates are seeking to tell people who to vote for.

 “What we’re saying here,” he explained of the document, “are the fundamental principles of the Catholic Church; we reassert them, the reason for it and then it’s up to every individual Catholic and others in society who wants to listen to make up their mind in conscience.”

Pressed on whether he thought a Catholic is a “lesser Catholic” if they vote for a party backing the repeal of the constitutional protection for the unborn, Archbishop Martin said “everybody makes their decision in conscience and has to live with that decision in conscience”.

On the topic of abortion entering the current political campaign, Dr Martin said: “I am a little worried about the fact that there’s a lot of discussion as part of the election promises, but there’s a sense of don’t say too much now and we’ll kick it down the road till later on [to] a constitutional convention.

“Let politicians…have the courage to stand up and state where they stand on this issue.”

When it was put to him that Ireland has changed in the three decades since the 1983 pro-life referendum, Dr Martin said: “Things have changed, and medical progress has changed. Many things can be done today that couldn’t be done 30 years ago.

“It’s not a simple issue. It’s interesting listening to many of the campaigns and discussions, a lot of these hard issues are brought up. The solution would simply seem to be abolish the 8th Amendment, but what are we going to put in its place?

“I would hope politicians themselves would be very honest and that citizens and voters would ask their politicians about this and we have clarity rather than spin.”

The Catholic Archbishops’ pastoral statement can be read here.