Abortion Case Woman Refused Compensation

15.02.2019

Deirdre Conroy, the woman who took the D v. Ireland case to challenge Ireland’s then legal restrictions on abortion has been refused compensation by the Irish government. Two other women who challenged Ireland’s abortion laws received ex gratia payments of €30,000 each from the government.

Deirdre Conroy took her case after she was unable to obtain an abortion in Ireland following a diagnosis that her baby had a “fatal foetal abnormality”. Her case was dismissed by the European Court of Human Rights because she had not exhausted her legal options in Ireland.

The government made payments to Amanda Mellet and Siobhan Whelan of €30,000 each last year and in 2017. Ms Conroy, a candidate for Fianna Fáil in the local elections, said she had asked Health Minister Simon Harris to make a similar payment to her.

She wrote to the minister that, “It remains a fact that only three women challenged the State outside our jurisdiction due to fatal foetal abnormality, and the other two women have been compensated because their situation was brought to the Government’s attention in public. I am making my request in private, for the present.”

The State has offered her counselling via the Health Service Executive - but nothing more. “I am disappointed. It felt like another knock,” she said.

An art dealer and architectural consultant, Ms Conroy wrote an open letter under the pseudonym Deirdre de Barra and took the first case to Europe as D. Although it did not succeed, it paved the way for future challenges. She revealed her identity in 2013.

She said her decision to stand as a candidate for Fianna Fáil was partly influenced by Micheál Martin’s explanation of how he had changed his mind to support the introduction of abortion.

Sunday Independent. February 10.