The Fianna Fáil leader says he's giving a free vote on the forthcoming abortion legislation because he didn't want to lose people from the party.
The Parliamentary Party's decided to allow TDs and Senators vote with their conscience, after it became apparent that an imposed whip on a vote either way would see walkouts from the party.
It comes as the Taoiseach and other Catholic members of the Oireachtas were likened to Nazi soldiers by a senior Vatican cleric.
Monsignor Jacques Suaudeau says saying they're going with the party line is like a Nuremberg defence.
Tonight Micheál Martin told Newstalk he had no choice but to go with a free vote:
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