From this week’s Irish Catholic.
Some Dad tweetz:
…are thumbs outside the pockets a secret Opus Dei signal?
(Pic: Christine Bohan)
Yearly Archives: 2016
MORE to folly
Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly (top) and Fine Gael Health Minister Simon Harris
This evening.
A debate took place in the Dáil on Independents 4 Change TD Mick Wallace’s bill – to allow for abortions in Ireland in the case of fatal foetal abnormalities.
A vote on the bill will take place next week.
You may recall how Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly proposed an identical bill last year but it was deemed unconstitutional by the Attorney General, Maire Whelan – prompting Legal Coffee Drinker to respond.
Mr Wallace’s bill has also been deemed unconstitutional, prompting him to call for Ms Whelan’s advice to be published.
From Ms Daly’s speech this evening…
We have the Attorney General saying it’s unconstitutional. Now I have to say that is a pathetic cop-out. It’s an excuse for inaction. As you know, we wrote to you minister asking for you to publish that opinion, so that it can be assessed and considered, at the very least, that’s a minimum.
Because there were 43 other legal people who published a letter [to the Irish Times] last time around which had a different opinion to this Attorney General.
And I note your response, which you sent us this afternoon, where you said that her advice is ‘in line with legal advice received on the issue of fatal foetal abnormalities, at the time of Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill’ [debated in summer of 2013].
Now that’s interesting. Because that confirms to us that that advice wasn’t sought in relation to this bill last time round, nor this time round. And it certainly would be saying that it wasn’t sought in the context of the violations of international human rights.
But again we have to return to the simple legal fact that Attorney Generals can get it wrong. This Attorney General certainly has got it wrong quite a few times.
Other Attorney Generals have had a different view on this issue. Other Attorney Generals got it wrong before. They got it wrong in the X case.
And the truth of the matter is, whether it’s constitutional or not, can only be decided by the courts. It’s as simple as that.
This is not repugnant to the constitution, it’s not in the sense clearly contradictory. At the very minimum there is at least an arguable case that it could be possible for somebody in the circumstances of being diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality to get a termination in Ireland.
How do I know that? Because that’s exactly the position that the Irish State argued 10 years ago this week, in front of the European Court of Human Rights.
And sadly, the European Court of Human Rights agreed with them because they said that the State had put forward a tenable argument which could have been seriously considered by the domestic courts, that a foetus wasn’t an unborn for the purpose of the article and, even if it was, it’s right to life wasn’t going to be engaged and therefore it did not benefit from the protection of article 40.3.3.
They talked about that the courts wouldn’t operate with remorseless logic, they said that the woman in the case in question, that her case wasn’t admissible because Ireland had shown that the remedy was possible in the domestic courts; that she had a reasonable prospect of success against her courts.
But, of course, our courts never ended up testing this matter. And do you know what? They never will. Because how in god’s name could we expect somebody, whose world, the bottom has fallen out of their world with a diagnosis of a fatal foetal abnormality in the case of a much-wanted pregnancy. At their lowest ebb. And we expect them to go into the courts and argue for the rights to have a termination at home? When they’ve enough pressing things on their plate. That is never going to happen.
But it is also the case that our courts have never adjudicated on this and the only way in which they will adjudicate on it is if we pass this bill and if we allow the President to refer it on to the Supreme Court for adjudication in that regard.
Later
The sensibilities of the Attorney General are of less concern to me. Now obviously if we come in with the bill that your party colleague, which I will be welcoming, mentioned on the radio this morning, that she’s looking to reduce the time limit for divorce for example.
If that bill came in here, as a bill to the house. That would be clearly unconstitutional because the bill says, or the constitution says that divorce has to be a period of separation for four years. So if the deputy brought that as a bill, it would be clearly unconstitutional.
Our bill isn’t clearly unconstitutional at all and that is an absolute fact. And in fairness this Attorney General was wildly criticised by the Fennelly Commission, amongst others, so I don’t accept the point made by the deputies that this is muddying water, that it’s standing in the way of a repeal of the 8th amendment, I could maybe buy that if the choice the Government was giving us was withdraw this amendment, or withdraw this bill and we’ll give you a referendum on the constitution.
If you were doing that tonight we would certainly consider that. I think that would be..but that’s not the offer in town tonight. The offer in town is that the status quo continues.
…The last point, Ceann Comhairle, is to remind this Government, and appeal to the backbenchers, three, four weeks ago, you said a bill on property rights was unconstitutional. You allowed that bill to go through. By god, you can at least do it on terms of women’s rights.
Meanwhile…
Independent Alliance TD John Halligan
“The time has come, in 2016, to face up to reality. We cannot continually export problems out of this country. I don’t know if this bill is anti-constitutional. And I don’t care. I care about the women tomorrow, next week, the week after that, who will have to get on a plane or a ship and go to Liverpool or Manchester or Newcastle and bring the foetus back in a box in the back of a car which has happened.”
“This is Ireland 2016, not Ireland 1920. We cannot continue to allow this to happen. Year after year, we find excuses to legally, or otherwise, as to why we prohibit a woman from leaving this country.”
“The Irish Times, people should go back to the Irish Times with an image of Ireland surrounded by a barbed wire fence and a woman on a ladder trying to get out.”
“This is 2016, this can no longer be allowed happen. The time has come for people to stand their ground. We must stand our ground on this. We must do it.”
“For the thousands of women over the next couple of years. And by the way for the women who cannot wait another six months, or can’t wait another year, or can’t wait two years. And I haven’t even begun to speak about women who are violated and raped. We tell them: go through your nine months and have your child whether you like it or not.”
“That we allow this to happen in Ireland in 2016, it’s completely unacceptable.”
Waterford Independent Alliance TD John Halligan speaking in the Dáil during the debate.
Watch the debate live here
Previously: Publish And Be Damned
Nialler9
As TXFM Dublin prepares to close down later this year…
Nialler9 writes:
Tonight’s TXFM Dublin show at 10pm is my last for the station. It’s been a great two and a half years where I’ve fallen for radio, been tasked with picking and playing songs for people at listening at home, in cars from Dublin to islands off the coast to America to Australia.
It’s been a great experience and pleasure and the TX team are a great bunch of sounders. There’s a lovely camaraderie in the station.
For my last show tonight, I’ll be playing a Best of 2016 so far, as is my show’s new music M.O.
Kelly-Anne Byrne’s last show is also tonight so tune in from 7pm – midnight for some guaranteed great tunes and a fond farewell.
Mmf.
Previously: Listeners To The End
On this week’s Here’s How current affairs podcast with William Campbell (above).
Donal Byrne, RTÉ’s News Planner and a senior news editor, answers questions from William on whether RTÉ should describe people as ‘known to the gardaí’; whether they blacked out news of Gemma O’Doherty’s firing by the Irish Independent; and whether Paul Reynolds is sufficiently independent of the gardaí.
FIGHT!
Listen here
William writes:
The phrase ‘known to gardaí” appears scores of times on the RTÉ website and, as Donal Byrne rightly pointed out, frequently occurs in other Irish media.
The phrase has been sharply criticised for the meaning it carries, including by novelist Frankie Gaffney.
Derek O’Toole died when he was struck by an off-duty Garda’s car in Lucan Co Dublin in March 2007. Within hours of his death, and without naming their source or sources, RTÉ accused him of being ‘known to gardaí’.
It later emerged that he had no criminal record or criminal associations whatsoever, and GSOC concluded that unknown gardaí had supplied false information to journalists.
Jeffrey Hannan was murdered in Limerick in 2007, and on the day of his death he was described by RTÉ and other outlets as being ‘known to gardaí’, and it turned out that he also had no criminal record or associations whatsoever.
At Jeffrey’s funeral, Fr Pat Hogan sharply criticised the media for this specifically.
He said:
“What a phrase [‘known to gardai’]. I imagine that those who use such a phrase are trying to pitch Jeffrey and others into another world — a world where such violent things happen, a world to which we do not belong and that will never touch us.”
RTÉ ‘s guidelines for journalists state that:
“We should be reluctant to rely on a single source especially if the information from that source has been given on condition of anonymity.”
If what Donal Byrne said is true, it is remarkable that in both cases RTÉ and other media outlets all secured multiple sources giving incorrect but identical information within the very few hours between the death of each and the accusation being made on-air.
Donal suggested that ‘being criticised by both sides‘ was an indication that RTÉ is, in fact, objective.
Leaving aside this logical fallacy, it is clear that outside RTÉ, Paul Reynolds is widely viewed as a reporter sympathetic to Garda management, for example here, here, here, here and here.
I said that there was a virtual news blackout on RTÉ about the case of the firing of Gemma O’Doherty, as witnessed by the Guardian, a British newspaper publishing many times more stories on the case than RTÉ.
RTÉ’s few stories on the case are mostly insipid bare-bones statements of the fact that a case had been lodged, and later settled, without any background or analysis.
Donal suggested that this may have been because ‘one side of the case‘ leaked information to the Guardian in breach of the confidential settlement of the case.
This is evidently incorrect, since much of the Guardian reporting was published before the settlement.
RTÉ’s effective news blackout on the story itself became international news with headlines such as ‘Ireland’s media ignore Irish Independent editor’s annulled penalty points’ and ‘Irish investigative reporter lashes media bosses for newsroom timidity’ by high-profile journalist Roy Greenslade.
The Guardian were by no means the only international press to cover the story, it has been carried by The Irish Post, the Sunday Times, Yahoo News and others.
The Guardian and The Irish Post also reported the story that former Commissioner Martin Callanan had been called as a witness in Gemma O’Doherty’s case, a story that RTÉ entirely blacked out.
RTÉ did, however find space to report the fact that Nanci Creedon, daughter of John, had established a dog-grooming business.
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland defines sponsorship as :
“Any contribution made by a public or private undertaking to the financing of television and/or radio programmes with a view to promoting its name, its trade mark, its image, its activities, its products or its services.“
I understand that the AA [Automobile Association] pays the salaries of the presenters and pays the rent on the studios from which they broadcast.
I also understand that guests on RTÉ radio programmes introduced as ‘from a city centre studio‘ are, in fact speaking from the AA studios, in direct contravention on the BAI’s total ban on the sponsorship of news and current affairs programmes.
Despite what Donal says in the podcast, Conor Faughnan has often been referred to as “Conor Faughnan of AA Roadwatch” on-air on RTÉ when he is campaigning against speed limits, for reducing taxes on the motor industry and for more road building, using the credibility afforded by the 158 broadcasts per week that he supplies to to RTÉ.
The High Court ruled in 1998 that prohibited political advertisements include “any advert directed towards: procuring changes in the laws of this country, or countering suggested changes in those laws“, and the BAI make it clear that the same rules apply to sponsored programmes.
Lissywollen Direct Provision centre for asylum seekers, Athlone, Co. Westmeath
Political expenses and FOI sleuth Ken Foxe obtained copies of letters of complaints made by asylum seekers living in direct provision centres across Ireland.
The mechanism to allow asylees make formal written complaints about the centres was introduced by the Department of Justice in 2011.
The number of complaints has fallen over the years, however rights groups say this is because the residents of the centres generally have little faith in the system.
In the current edition of Village magazine, Mr Foxe reports there have been complaints about the bullying of a child by a staff member; infestations of vermin; and rooms with no heating, among other complaints.
The centres are not identified in the article.
Mr Foxe reports:
In a centre in the Mid-West, a group of residents wrote about repeated gross invasions of their privacy.
“The manager get in any room and search our private bags and take our stuff”, they wrote.
They explained how CCTV was installed to watch the windows of their room, which were locked so that they would not open more than a centimetre.
The residents also described how they were made to sign in daily and, if they did not, a letter was sent to social welfare officers seeking cuts to the tiny weekly payment of €19 that they receive.
…At the same centre, a disabled asylum-seeker had pleaded to be allowed to share a room with his Afghan friends because he needed help in every “aspect of life”.
“They treat us the way like we are in prison”, he wrote: “They don’t care about your health, your condition, [and] depression and will make your head burst out and become crazy. Our condition is even worse than prisoners because they have some respect inside the jail but we don’t have that at all”.
The complaint was investigated and it was discovered that there were fourteen vacancies at the centre and the request to stay together could easily have been facilitated.
…[Jennifer DeWan of NASC Ireland said]: “The number of complaints has been falling yet we are still hearing about all the same issues. People just don’t see the benefit of complaining – because even when they do, nothing changes. The mechanisms need to be safe for asylum seekers to use and there must be a positive result when they use them.”
Refugee Reality: FOI complaints show lunatics taking over the asylum-seekers (Village)
Previously: Postcards From Direct Provision
Michael Murphy tweetz:
Just spotted Schrödinger bike outside Mary’s pub off Grafton street or did I?
Anyone?
Kong!
at
Nisan Greenwich writes:
Testing 35mm film print of King Kong (1933) screening as part the IFI Open Day this Saturday. Free films!
Former editor of the Irish Sun Michael McNiffe with Rupert Murdoch in the Irish Sun offices, Dublin in February, 2012
RTÉ reports:
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is set to buy Wireless Group, which controls a number of Irish radio stations including FM104 and Q102.
Wireless Group was formerly UTV Media before the sale of its television assets, including UTV Ireland, to ITV.
As well the two Dublin stations, Wireless Group also controls Cork’s 96 FM and C103, Live 95FM in Limerick, LMFM in northeast Leinster and Belfast-based U105.
As well as its Irish radio interests, the group also controls a number of UK media brands, including talkSPORT.
The all-cash offer values the company at approximately £220.3m.
News Corp to buy Irish radio stations as part of £220m deal (RTE)
Previously: Storyful Eh? I’ll Remember That Name