Abortion laws do need debated urgently, but Stormont is the forum

The first point, that is deployed primarily by unionists, is rightly made: that the fact of legislative positions in other UK countries, or south of the border, on matters such as marriage and reproductive rights, does not mean the same position should be adopted in Northern Ireland.

What is the point of devolution, or indeed of independence in the south, if every part of these islands has to have the same position in these areas?

The second point that is sometimes made, however, is a much shakier one: that Northern Ireland is opposed to reform on such matters. In fact opinion polls seem to suggest that positions in the Province on these contentious issues are not that far removed from the rest of the UK and Ireland.

Northern Ireland, therefore, would be entitled to chart its own course entirely on these matters, particularly if there was overwhelming support for it to do so, but it is far from clear that there is such support.

One way forward for the political parties, most of which have divided opinion on these questions, is to make it a question of conscience, on which party members and representatives can chart their own course. But as the SDLP has found, and the DUP will too if it goes down that route, leaving it to conscience is not acceptable to some people in those parties who feel that opposition to abortion, for example, is a core matter that should not be optional.

It would be interesting to see what happened if both topics were tested in referendum, as David McNarry again suggests, right. But it is far from ideal to make law via referendum.

The proper place to debate this, thoroughly and urgently, is Stormont. But it is Sinn Fein who have made that impossible, imposing red lines for the return of devolution — blackmail in which they have been almost encouraged (or certainly not criticised) by Dublin and indulged by London.