Abortion will be allowed in Ireland in limited circumstances after TDs voted in favour of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill by 127 votes to 31.

As part of the controversial legislation, a woman will now have a right to an abortion if her life is at risk. This includes if her life is at risk from suicide.

All of the 165 proposed amendments to the Bill were defeated by the Government.

As expected, former Junior Minister for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton, voted against the Bill. As a result, she was expelled from the Fine Gael parliamentary party and resigned from her ministerial post.

Dublin TD, Paschal Donohoe, is now the new Junior Minister for European Affairs.

Ms Creighton described it as a ‘sad day' for her personally as she is now no longer a member of the party she first joined at the age of 18.

However, she insisted that she could not vote in favour of the Bill. She said that prior to the last election, Fine Gael had promised not to legislate for abortion and this Bill ‘is a breach of that commitment'.

Ms Creighton said she would be resigning from Government and has no interest in joining any other party.

The Bill will now go to the Seanad for approval and will then be sent to President Michael D Higgins, who will sign it into law.