DUBLIN (REUTERS) - Ireland's government on Monday (Jan 29) proposed holding a referendum to liberalise the country's abortion regime at the end of May, offering voters the first opportunity in 35 years to overhaul some of the world's strictest laws.

Voters will be asked if they wish to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution that was inserted in 1983 and which enshrined the equal right to life of the mother and her unborn child, and to instead enable Parliament to set the laws.

While not on the ballot paper, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said his government will begin drafting legislation in line with the recommendations made by an all-party parliamentary committee last month which called for terminations with no restrictions to be allowed up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy.