Taoiseach Enda Kenny has distanced himself from Leo Varadkar’s call for a new abortion referendum saying now is not the time to look at the issue of constitutional change.

Mr Kenny said Mr Varadkar was speaking in a personal capacity when he told the Dáil on Tuesday that the current constitutional provision on abortion was too restrictive.

The Taoiseach said that in the 1980s the country was convulsed for several years about the issue of abortion. “I don’t think we need that kind of divisive debate,” he said yesterday.

Abortion was “a very sensitive and a very complex issue”. He said no government had been prepared to face up to the interpretation of the Supreme Court on the matter in 1991 until his had done so last year.

Legislation

“The Government faced up to this and made a number of decisions in regard to the legislation for the protection of life and clearly that was very difficult for people in my own party but we did face up to it.”

He said the legislation was relatively new and would have to be assessed and monitored very carefully. “There are always unforeseen kinds of circumstances, kinds of cases that can arise and I do think that it is important to have an understanding of the difficulties that people go through here.

“I don’t believe that in the absence of really verifiable medical evidence and information that we should be looking at the issue of constitutional change now. I think it is necessary to assess the impact of the legislation,” he said.

“But also to look at the issues that arise on an irregular basis and how difficult they are to deal with outside the limits of the legislation.”