TDS ARE TONIGHT voting on a bill that will remove the three-day wait for those who seek an abortion.
The Sinn Féin bill has united both government and opposition TDs on what has historically been a divisive topic.
The Taoiseach, Tánaiste and many within their parties plan to support the bill.
Government TDs will be given a free vote on the proposed legislation.
After the Eighth Amendment was repealed in 2018, a review, which was carried out by barrister Marie O’Shea, recommended significant changes to the new legislation.
It has been three years since the review was published, but none of the recommendations have been acted upon, and no expert committee group has been established to look at the review.
One of the recommendations, which is being voted on tonight, is to scrap the mandatory three-day waiting period to access a termination.
At the time the review was published, both Varadkar and Martin expressed caution around moving to significantly change the legal framework.
After the general election, Harris and Martin said the incoming government would consider making changes to Ireland’s abortion legislation.
A year after those remarks, the Taoiseach said the government would examine the recommendations of the review.
However, it took a bill put forward by the Social Democrats for the issue to get some political traction this year.
Sinn Féin and others did not support the Social Democrats’ bill, which included a further provision around widening access to abortions in the cases of fatal foetal abnormalities.
Current laws only allow terminations where a condition is likely to lead to the death of the foetus before birth or within 28 days after birth.