An end to Ireland's conservative abortion laws could be in sight.
The Irish parliament could decide on whether to hold a national referendum on the topic next year after Prime Minister Enda Kenny formed a citizens' assembly of 99 people. The group will deliver its report in the first half of 2017 and the government said on Tuesday it would respond within six months.
The question of whether to widen access to abortion is politically divisive in Ireland. The heavy Catholic influence has meant regulations are among the strictest in the world and terminations are only allowed if the mother's life is in danger.
The assembly has been called to advise the government. Once its report has been made a parliamentary committee to respond would be convened immediately and have six months to do so.
If a referendum is recommended, a vote would then be needed in parliament to set one up, potentially paving the way for a plebiscite in 2018.
Activists who marched in their thousands last month to seek the abolition of the eighth amendment of the constitution, which enshrines an equal right to life of the mother and her unborn child, have pressured the government not to delay a decision.
Abortion has long been a controversial topic in Ireland where a complete ban was only lifted in 2013.
Anti-abortion supporters demand no further changes to safeguard all life.
The timetable set out by the government on Tuesday was in response to opposition attempts to provide for a referendum immediately that threatened a split among the minority coalition government.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
