Some 165 proposed amendments to the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill are to be considered in the Dail today before TDs vote on it later tonight.

Fine Gael TD and Minister of State for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton, is expected to vote against the Bill as she had wanted the clause allowing suicide as grounds for an abortion to be removed, however this clause will remain.

If she votes against the Bill, she will be expelled from the Fine Gael parliamentary party and will lose her junior minister post.

Last week, four of her Fine Gael colleagues - Billy Timmins, Peter Mathews, Brian Walsh and Terence Flanagan - were expelled from the party after they voted against the second stage of the Bill, which was passed in the Dail by 138 votes to 24.

Meanwhile speaking on RTE radio this morning, Archbishop Eamon Martin appealed to TDs to vote against the Bill. He insisted that it would ‘fundamentally change the whole culture of medical practice' in this country.

"Knowingly, willingly and intentionally voting to promote abortion, which is the killing of an innocent child, is cooperation with evil and cannot be reconciled with your faith," he insisted.

The Bill was due to be voted on in the Dail at 10pm tonight, but it is now expected to be sometime after midnight.