The most divisive issue in Irish politics is back on the agenda. This week, the government will publish its long-awaited Green Paper on abortion, with a view to resolving the thorny contradictions of a problem that arouses fierce passions.

The Green Paper, which was approved by the Cabinet last week, is described as a 'comprehensive document'. It presents a number of options, ranging from a referendum proposing a constitutional ban on abortion in all circumstances to the introduction of a more liberal regime that would allow for pregnancies to be terminated under strictly controlled legislation.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has already promised that 'the electorate will be consulted on the issue'. This seems to point to another constitutional referendum. Ahern's minority government depends for its survival on the support of a number of independent parliamentary deputies, and at least two of these have already demanded that a referendum should take place within the lifetime of the present administration.

Ahern would prefer to delay any decision for as long as possible. There have been a number of referendums on abortion, which have been fought with great passion but have left the legal situation as murky as ever. In 1983, a constitutional amendment, carried by a huge popular majority, pledged the Irish state to protect 'the life of the unborn'.

In l992, the Supreme Court's judgment in what became known as 'the X case' confused the issue. A teenage girl, who had become pregnant as the result of rape, was prevented by the authorities from travelling to Britain to have an abortion. The Supreme Court ruled that she be allowed to have her pregnancy terminated because she was suicidal. In theory, this meant it was now legal for abortions to be performed in Irish hospitals. Instead, another referendum was held in l992 which allowed for access to information about abortion facilities in other countries and guaranteed the right to travel abroad.

Last year, according to official British figures, 5,892 women giving addresses in Ireland had their pregnancies terminated in Britain. Agencies offering pregnancy counselling and information about facilities in London and Liverpool advertise openly in the yellow pages of the Irish telephone directory.

There has been growing pressure on government to regularise this situation. Pro-life groups have long demanded another referendum outlawing abortion. Some have picketed clinics and the homes of politicians. In Northern Ireland, these methods recently forced one clinic offering pregnancy advice to close its doors, and there is concern that they could also influence the conduct of any forthcoming debate.

On the other side, women's groups want to see the law changed to allow for abortions to be performed, in controlled circumstances, in Irish hospitals. They argue that the present situation is socially discriminatory, since it is more difficult for poorer women to raise money to travel to Britain and pay for a termination in a private clinic.

In recent days, other concerns have been raised about the activities of some clinics in Ireland which claim to offer counselling to young pregnant women.

Last week, an Irish judge decided to allow the publication of her ruling in the case of a clinic where illegal private adoptions had been arranged, after coercive methods were used to persuade two young mothers to give up their babies.

One of the most worrying aspects of the case, according to Ms Justice Laffoy, was the fact that other professionals, a doctor and a barrister, had co-operated in 'deliberate attempts to ring-fence' one of the mothers from the legal advice and the counselling that she desperately needed.

Since the publication of this judgment, other young women have described their experiences with the same agency. These included being shown a video of an abortion, which contained images of a foetus being dismembered.

Such reports have focused public attention on an area of Irish life that legislators would very much prefer to ignore. Irish women themselves are extremely reluctant to talk about their own experiences because of the stigma of shame and guilt that still surrounds abortion. In the 25 years that the issue has been on the political agenda, only a handful of women have 'come out' in public, in marked contrast, for example, to gay rights.

If there is another referendum on abortion, the likelihood is that the debate will be conducted almost exclusively in theological and moral terms. Meanwhile, Irish women will continue to travel to Britain in large numbers, as they have done for generations, to have their pregnancies terminated.