The Abortion Rights Campaign agreed to return the grant, but it reiterated its disagreement with the officials' interpretation of the law.
Sherlock said there are "numerous" international pro-abortion rights groups and foundations besides the Open Society Foundations that have funded, or wish to fund, the movement against Ireland's abortion law.
"A concern I would have is that international pro-abortion foundations have already contributed vast sums of money to 'Repeal the Eighth' groups in Ireland and it just so happens that some of the Soros funding has come to light under the DC Leaks exposé," she said. "The sums of money given by the Open Society Foundations alone to Amnesty Ireland and the Irish Family Planning Association are far from insignificant. Hundreds of thousands of Euro have been transferred to these groups and I would fear this is the tip of the iceberg."
Sherlock said she found it "very hard" to believe the other groups did not receive politically motivated funding. In her view, the DC Leaks documents "clearly showed that the funding from the Soros Foundation to these groups was intended to influence the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment."
In response to The Irish Catholic report in March 2017, the Abortion Rights Campaign said that the grant was intended "to fund educational and stigma-busting projects."
"Our focus remains on advocating for reproductive rights while striving to lift the stigma surrounding abortion in Ireland," said the group's spokesperson Linda Kavanagh.
The Republic of Ireland's Eighth Amendment, passed by voters in 1983, acknowledges "the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right."
The Open Society Foundations documents suggested that the foundations saw any pro-abortion rights success in Ireland as a model to change pro-life laws in other Catholic countries in Europe, such as Poland. It also noted support for pro-abortion efforts in Mexico, Zambia, Nigeria, and Tanzania, and other parts of Latin America and Europe.
The strategy document said the foundations' actions from 2016-2019 would aim to generate "a robust set of organizations advancing and defending sexual and reproductive rights and injecting new thinking/strategy into the field."
Other documents on the DCLeaks.com website showed the Open Society Foundations collaborating with Planned Parenthood, the Hewlett Foundation and the Democracy Alliance in a multi-million dollar campaign to respond to videos that appeared to expose the abortion performer's involvement in the illegal sale of fetal tissue and unborn baby parts for profit.
Kevin J. Jones is a senior staff writer with Catholic News Agency. He was a recipient of a 2014 Catholic Relief Services' Egan Journalism Fellowship.