Eight Amendment referendum to take place in May or June, 2018

A referendum on the Eight Amendment will take place in May or June of 2018, says Leo Varadkar.

The Taoiseach has today told the Dáil that the government has agreed an “indicative timeline” for the highly-anticipated referendum.

The announcement comes amid fears that the special Oireachtas committee tasked with considering proposals to repeal the Eight Amendment will not have completed its work by the Christmas deadline.

In 8 or 9 months Ireland will go to the people for a referendum on abortion. Here are the 6 referendums just confirmed by the government: pic.twitter.com/91kH6UlBEq

— Chris Donoghue (@chrisrdonoghue) September 26, 2017

In the case that the deadline is not met, the delay in legislation will see the date for the referendum pushed back.

As many as eight referendums will be held before the summer of 2019 including votes on women in the home, blasphemy, and liberalising divorce laws.