The Labour Party had said it wants to see Ireland introduce a UK-style abortion law as a replacement to the current constitutional ban on abortion in almost all circumstances. In Britain, almost 200,000 abortions take place annually accounting for about one pregnancy in every five.

Speaking on the campaign trail, the party’s Alex White said Labour’s “overriding insistence would be that there be a referendum” on the repeal of the 8th Amendment to the Constitution and added: “I think that if this government is returned to office, which I hope it will, then I would see that that process should be well underway by the summer.”

For his own part, Mr White said there “definitely needs to be a referendum” and his party would work towards building a consensus for that and the repeal of the 8th Amendment.

Party colleague Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said that Labour would construct a new “medical and legal framework” around the introduction of abortion into Ireland on the basis of foetal abnormality, rape and incest, in addition to introducing mental and physical health grounds under which almost all abortions in Britain take place.

Meanwhile, Labour’s Senator Ivana Bacik (pictured), who drew up the party’s draft legislation on abortion, agreed that it was in line with Britain’s Abortion Act of 1967.

“It’s effectively the same law that currently meets the needs of the thousands of Irish women who travel to England every year,” she said. Denying that Labour’s proposed legislation would see abortion on demand, and insisting that Britain does not have abortion on demand through its current regime, Senator Bacik said: “It’s the sort of legislation that we see replicated across Europe in a sort of compassionate fashion”.