Martin said he had arrived at the decision after a “long period of reflection” and for many different reasons.

The Fianna Fáil leader is quoted saying: "It is untrue to say that the issue before it is whether there will be abortion in Ireland or not. The 8th Amendment does not mean that Ireland is a country without abortion. Retaining the 8th will not make Ireland a country without abortion. Nothing we say or do here could.

"There appears to be no sound basis for pointing to other countries and saying that Ireland will become like them by changing its laws."

This is a significant step from the Fianna Fail leader, considering that just a few months ago, his party voted overwhelming in favour of retaining the 8th Amendment.

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MARTIN: "Because the 8th has been shown to cause real damage to Irish women... because it seeks to force women to carry a pregnancy to term... and because it presents us from responding in a humane way... I believe we should remove the 8th Amendment and will vote accordingly"

— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) January 18, 2018