TDs are to vote later this month on a referendum bill – allowing abortion in the case of fatal foetal abnormality.

The bill from Wexford TD Mick Wallace will be debated in two weeks.

His bill would allow abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, if it had been cleared by a perinatologist and an obstetrician.

It could attract wide support throughout the Dáil, but it’s not known whether Fine Gael would give its TDs a free vote on the bill.

Minister Leo Varadkar has said the 8th amendment was not considered fully and properly before being added to the constitution.

The amendment, which provides the equal right to life of the mother and unborn child, was added after a referendum in 1983.

Leo Varadkar has said considering the repeal of the amendment shouldn’t be rushed.

But he conceded that it can’t be put on the long finger either: “I don’t think it is something that should be rushed.

“It is important to get these things right.

“Part of the reason our abortion laws have given us so much trouble in this country is because we put an amendment into the constitution back in 1983, without considering it fully and properly.

“So I don’t think it should be rushed but at the same time I don’t think it can be long fingered.”