basic European law right of the free movement of people within the EU. In the 2010 case of A, B and C v Ireland the European Court of Human Rights found that Ireland has breached the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to provide an accessible and effective procedure by which a woman can have established whether she qualifies for a legal abortion under current Irish law, which led to the passing of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013. Political outcomes Whelehan was later appointed a senior judge, but his office's stance on the X case, coupled with its lengthy delaying of the extradition from Northern Ireland of Brendan Smyth, on multiple charges of abuses against children, was met with severe and widespread criticism. The issue split and eventually brought down the coalition government of the time. Under political pressure, Whelehan served as a High Court judge for just six days. There were regular calls, in subsequent decades, to "legislate for the X case", meaning to amend or replace the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 to permit and regulate abortion within the limited circumstances allowed by the 1992 judgment. This was eventually effected by the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013. TV interviews in 2010 The Scannal programme by RTÉ was broadcast on 22 February 2010, suggesting that the underlying divisions of opinion still exist, and that the facts of the case were too difficult and unique for a simple resolution at the time. Some quotations appeared on RTÉ's website: Harry Whelehan said that: "The problem was stark. There was an unborn child with a constitutional right to life. There was nobody to advocate the right of that child to be born other than the Attorney General". "The State was going to force a child to bear a child for her rapist" said Fintan O'Toole, journalist. "You can't use the constitution for certain issues and not others. It is black and white – Harry Whelehan implemented the constitution and I believe he did the right thing." – Cathal Mac Coille, RTÉ journalist. "I remember Albert saying 'we're up to our necks in it now Diggy, they're all out to get us', and he was so right" – Seán Duignan, government press secretary in 1992. See also Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2002 (Ireland) Abortion in the Republic