“For me a big issue would be abortion. If we could get rid of abortion out of Ireland, I think everything would turn around.”

Thud.

From a general election vox pop on RTÉ’s Six One last night.

Previously: 18 Days To Go

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69 thoughts on “Turn Around

  1. Weedless

    Well if you have your vox pop outside a church when mass is ending what do you expect? They should set up to ask questions outside one of Ireland’s many abortion clinics next week for balance.

    1. irishstu

      I’d expect they’d be off to go in peace to love and serve the lord
      Anyone else get given out to for sarcastic “Thanks be to god!” at this bit?

    1. george

      We’re also entitled to laugh at it, Especially given that abortion is illegal in Ireland. Seriously RTE should have edited her out because what she has said is clearly bonkers.

      There’s a man who goes are the area I work in ranting non-stop to himself about the government and how everything is a disgrace. I wouldn’t expect RTE to put him on the news even if he is entitled to his opinion.

      1. newsjustin

        Abortion isn’t illegal in Ireland. It’s legal in a very specific set of circumstances (where necessary to save the life of a mother). She may not fully grasp that, but neither do you.

        1. Nigel

          Sure, it’s narrowly proscribed and severely limited but technically it can be done legally for a tiny fraction of women, it really is hard to grasp why people in everyday casual usage refer to it as being actually illegal. Does not make sense.

          1. newsjustin

            It’s one thing to be wrong, as George is, but it’s another thing to be wrong and laughing at someone because you think you’re right.

          2. Nigel

            George is not wrong. Abortion is illegal in Ireland except in very exceptional circumstances. This is stupid. If she’s actually saying that even those special circumstances need to be abolished in order to turn the country around, then she’s delusional.

        2. Nigel

          Or, oh hey, maybe she means that once we get rid of abortion for women whose lives are at risk everything will be fine in Ireland! I always knew it was the women’s fault, all of it.

        3. ahjayzis

          Bludgeoning a burglar to death in self-defence can be legal in circumstances.

          Everyone needs to STOP saying murder is a crime in Ireland, it clearly isn’t.

          BLACK IS BLACK AND WHITE IS WHITE AND THUS SPAKETH THE LORD AND NUANCE IS TYRANNY.

          1. Nigel

            For the longest time life-saving treatments on pregnant women that resulted in the termination of the pregnancy weren’t abortions. Then the religious extremists found out about them.

      2. Kieran NYC

        “There’s a man who goes are the area I work in ranting non-stop to himself about the government and how everything is a disgrace.”

        Shhh! Broadsheet will just give him a weekly column.

  2. Starina

    now there’s a woman whose daughter is in her late 20s, has lived with her boyfriend for years but pretends she doesn’t when mammy comes to visit. sure mammy would be very upset if she found out her daughter wasn’t a virgin.

      1. The People's Hero

        I was that couple. Probably not *that* couple, but I spend the first four years of my relationship with my now wife like that. Was not at all healthy…. The fear she had of her ‘Mammy’ was insane. Truth be told, I should have walked away….

  3. Joe835

    Two ideas for Repeal The 8th or whomever would like to seize on videos like this to express the power of voting.

    Have this abortion lady rant (you’d probably have to use an actress) and over her, the words:

    “You can’t be bothered to vote? She will.”

    Or even more plainly, show one of these people ranting with non-sequitors and lies to no-one in a white room and have a young person walk towards them, calmly explaining the facts – the closer they get, the more the volume depletes from the abortion lady’s voice. And finally as they’re stood beside them, their voice is cancelled out. Because it’s as simple as that; the more young people vote, the more that voice of old Ireland gets cancelled out.

    The marriage referendum showed the power of the under-35 vote bloc – if we had that for a general election, this country could start on some radical, much-needed change.

        1. Dόn 'The Unstoppable Force' Pídgéόní

          OK. You be the troll who only comments on my comments like a love lorne school boy? Great, all sorted.

    1. rotide

      The first idea is indeed a good one and is currently running in a campaign for the national lottery in england

      In terms of the young vote, Sorry to disapoint you Joe but the #hometovote thing might have made good BS copy but what really swung it was the massive yes vote from the OVER 35s, the ones that were expected to vote no and didnt.

        1. Peter Dempsey

          Hopefully no men will vote (even the pro choice ones) because of the “no uterus, no opinion” put-downs.

    2. Wayne Carr

      The more young people vote, the more that voice of old Ireland gets cancelled out… Yeah, except the young people don’t have a proper choice, just like the older people!

  4. Demon

    Ah, it makes me homesick for the 1900s when many thousands of children born to unwed parents were housed and starved in Protestant and Catholic orphanages, reformatories and industrial schools all over Ireland.

    1. ahjayzis

      That’s unfair.

      They were also exported by the boatload – which did wonders for the rural and clerical economy.

      And think of the savings on laundry if the whore mothers were chained to washing machines like the good lord intended.

  5. Fairhill

    Everything that was wrong with Ireland wrapped up in one narrow Xenophobic package.
    I’m saying “was” wrong as I’m optimistic that things are changing for the better, only too slowly
    Let’s keep the reformation going

  6. martco

    I’ve just done a family straw poll on who’s voting for who and what….the thing that struck me was the “grey vote” bit…each to a man and woman were unquestioning, almost like bingo night to them…

    Who do you think deserves your vote this time Mary:
    “oh I’ll be voting for xyz”
    Jesus Mary, why so?
    “oh shure I’ve always voted for (xyz’s party) and she has a kind face”

    shocked a bit as they’re not senile, well involved in my family affairs and they see the stresses daily

    I hope to f that younger people get out in large numbers

  7. Drogg

    I don’t know why people are so surprised by this, do you not realise the average person in Ireland is an Idiot.

      1. Drogg

        1 in 4 is way to low. Thrust me as someone who has spent time on the streets vox popping people, you are lucky if you get 1 for every 25 people to come out with a coherent answer to any question.

  8. 15 cents

    get rid of abortion out of ireland .. alright, you ignorant dope, it’s not in ireland. it’s illegal. secondly, “everything will turn around”? .. what will turn around? the economy? what? jesus, this is the kind of clueless moron we have out there voting .. and i dont just mean on abortion issues (which will never be a referendum for at least 5 years), but on all matters, the country is filled with people as insular and ill-informed as this dummy.

    1. ReproBertie

      How can you be so naive? Our Mother Mary hates abortion. If we get abortion out of Ireland then our Mother Mary will intercede on our behalf with her son Jesus (bows head) who will talk to his dad/himself and use magic to fix Ireland. Fixing Ireland will, of course, mean a return to the church where unemployment will be reduced by people lighting candles to help their nieces and nephews find jobs and the health service waiting lists will be obliterated through rosaries for the sick.

      1. 15 cents

        ReproBertie .. hahahahah thats gold .. and probably not very far off whats goin on inside yer ones head.

    2. Yea, Ok

      I have no doubt that there actually will be a vote, however it will be worded in such a convoluted way that no one will be happy with it and test cases will have to be dragged through the courts to clarify what it actually means, therefore solving precisely nothing other than the government’s duty to have a referendum.

      1. 15 cents

        Kenny & Burton quite recently said it wouldnt be on the agenda for a long time. Burton said some nonsense about it taking a good 18 months to decide if it can be put to referendum or not, before it’s even drawn up. Dunno if it was a different crowd at that talk than usual, because on other occasions they’ve said it’s an important issue and they endevour to deal with it as quick as they can (but only if you elect them in first, because doing the right thing isnt important to them, only getting re-elected). saw a smear ad from FF saying, bizarrely, that if “there was a referendum on houses tomorrow, Fine Gael would lose heavily” .. this tells me that they dont even know what a referendum is. First time they heard of it was probably the marriage referendum. and now just drop the word in now n again. the leading parties in GE16 are clueless from top to bottom, and i have no hope for the country within my lifetime. jesus at this rate, you’d nearly want the Brits back. We made an awful mess of it. Handed the country over to primary school teachers, thieves and gangsters.

  9. Termagant

    It’s not as if our benevolent dictators are going to give us a choice within our lifetimes anyway.

  10. stephen

    Someone this stupid should not be allowed vote. Have your opinion on abortion fair enough even if it is likely an uneducated silly opinion.
    But to say ‘Everything will turn around’, does this woman truly believe that the economy issues stem from God being mad at us for even considering abortion or something crazy and deluded like that. Its gombeens like this that would make me want to emigrate out of here. I know every country has its fools but we seem to have a lot of them and they seem to have a lot of power over the government compared to other conutries.

  11. Junkface

    Feckin Yokels! Don’t ask them questions for the telly. They think automatic doors in the shops are Satans work!

  12. Tony

    The sad thing is that we are all being fooled into thinking this is the big issue of the election and that therefore we have some kind of democracy. Meanwhile the corporates are raping the country, the hoods are on the streets and the country is dependant on a failing world economy. But its ok guys says the Twitters and Googles of the world, look over there- abortion, gay marriage- see you do have democracy!

    1. MoyestWithExcitement

      LOL. Yeah, we should be focusing on ending crime. That’s definitely realistic. Forget about women’s rights everyone, we need to make idiots feel safe.

    2. Dόn 'The Unstoppable Force' Pídgéόní

      True. I’ve never heard of a party who is anti big business and globalisation but also supports full access to abortion and gay rights.

  13. Tony

    You are being sold the illusion of democracy. And you love it as long as it suits your tiny agenda…

  14. Chickenhead

    I’m pretty sure that’s outside the cathedral in Letterkenny where I’m from. I haven’t lived there in about 15 years but went to Mass on Christmas Day in either 2013 or 2014.
    Anyway, on that particular day the priest finding the place packed, probably couldn’t believe his luck so he figured it would be a great idea to talk about the evils of abortion in his sermon, so I walked out, along with, oh, nobody else. (I could surmise that not that many were paying too much attention, but I was bloody disgusted with him)

    It’s not that I was remotely surprised by a priest’s views on that topic, but I thought the timing was rather off given the nature of Chrimbo and all that.

    A while later, the same priest was officiating at a family wedding and everyone thought he was great craic joking with us at the rehearsal, but I knew that he was a prick, and refused to join in on his banter/mild ribbing of the wedding party, which obviously showed him what was what. Indeed.

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