At a Seanad Election hustings held at Trinity College Dublin last week, former government minister and current Seanad candidate Katherine Zappone was asked by an audience member what she would do to reduce the number of abortions taking place in Ireland. The audience member alluded to in his question that Zappone had been a leading proponent of Repeal, that the government she was part of promised that abortion would be “safe, legal and rare” if the people voted for it, and he raised the fact that there had been a huge increase in abortions since the law changed.

Rather than answer the question on what she’d do to reduce the abortion rate, Zappone gave the following astonishing reply: “It is my view that we do have less abortions now because of the legislation.”

The moderator of the debate, journalist Áine Kerr, never picked Zappone up on her grossly misleading response. A few moments after Kappone spoke, however, Kerr thanked all the candidates for answering their questions so thoroughly.

The indisputable facts are that the number of Irish abortions increased from 2,879 in 2018 to 10,033 in 2023 for that single year alone. The official figures for 2024 won’t be released until later in the year. 

It is sad that campaigners like Zappone are allowed to get away with making such manifestly inaccurate claims. She is one of sixteen candidates nominated to run for Seanad Éireann in the three-seater University of Dublin (Trinity College) constituency.

See below Zappone’s answer on abortion at the TCD hustings.