The Fine Gael leader has said that a £50m education programme could reduce the number of crisis pregnancies and the rate of abortion. On RTÉ's This Week programme, Michael Noonan said that his party's proposed programme of education had a better chance of reducing unwanted pregnancies than a legislative change.
Mr Noonan said that a range of social and economic reasons for which women choose abortions could be identified, and that these could be addressed by an education programme.
"If women are being forced through social and economic circumstances to have abortions, when they feel they have no other option, we should try and provide the other options," he said. He expressed scepticism about a possible autumn referendum but said that if the Government came up with a formula he would examine it.
Mr Noonan also reiterated his opposition to the proposed Forum on Europe, saying that he does not want to get locked into a process without any proposed conclusion for the next four years. He said that the Government's proposal to facilitate debate about the European Union was a smokescreen, designed to remove the obligation to actually do something.
