Abstract
A, B & C v Ireland has attracted significant attention for what it says (or does not say) about abortion and the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the decision is also significant for the evolution of decision-making methods in the Court, and especially the notion of ‘European consensus’. A, B & C v Ireland saw the emergence of what we term ‘trumping internal consensus’ to allow for moral judgements within a state to ‘trump’ an identified European consensus. We argue that this raises serious constitutionalist concerns, not least because of its potential impact on harmonisation and questionable methodological basis.