Ireland will act “speedily” to implement legislation providing limited access to abortion if an expert group's recommendation is accepted by the Cabinet. Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, said this while speaking on Ireland's state broadcaster RTE amid raging controversy over the death of Indian dentist, Savita Halappanavar.

The expert group recommended that Ireland should allow limited access to abortion by clarifying the conditions under which women can terminate pregnancies. This recommendation will fuel a debate which has split the country and led to tensions within the coalition.

Abortion was banned in all circumstances in overwhelmingly Catholic Ireland by a 1983 constitutional amendment, but when the ban was challenged in 1992, the country's Supreme Court ruled a termination was permitted when the woman's life was at risk, including from suicide. The Court's judgement however not properly followed by the health officials.

The expert group's report will be discussed in the Cabinet tomorrow.