Author Archives: Bodger

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Social democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy

This afternoon.

The Dáil, Leinster House, Dublin 2

“I think we have to continue to base our decisions on evidence but the plan, as was agreed by Government and published, is a living document.

I said from the very start, and I’ll say it again, that as things develop, elements of that plan could be accelerated, could be brought forward. But I really would ask the public and ask the House to hold firm for now.

We’re only in phase one and one of the reasons why it’s a three-week phase is so that we can have proper data. We know that, we won’t really now what effect the easing of the restrictions had for about two weeks.

So if we see that the numbers are still going very much in the right direction in the first week of June, that can give us an assurance that we could accelerate some of the things in the plan.

But before doing that, I think we’d be acting without evidence and that would be premature. So I would just ask people to hold firm until that first week in June.

And if the numbers are still going in the right direction, then we can have some confidence about bringing forward some of the things from the later phases to earlier on.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar under questioning from Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy.

Clear?

More as we get it.

Earlier: You Won’t Lose Your Shirt

 

This afternoon.

Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Civilised.

Meanwhile…

SIX steps.

Damn rotters.

Gemma O’Doherty and John Waters outside the High Court on May 6

This morning/afternoon.

Via The Irish Examiner:

High Court today was told of their intention to appeal Mr Justice Charles Meenan’s decision as the court heard arguments as to who should pay the legal costs of their action against the State and the Minister for Health.

The Dáil, the Seanad and the Ceann Comhairle were notice parties to the action.

When making submissions to the court on the issues of costs, both Ms O’Doherty and Mr Waters said they would be appealing the court’s refusal to grant them leave to mount a legal challenge to the Court of Appeal.

They argued that the court should not order them to pay the legal costs of the State or the notice parties on grounds including that their action was brought in the public interest.

John Waters and Gemma O’Doherty to appeal High Court refusal to allow challenge to Covid-19 laws

Previously: Dollyer

Rollingnews

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in the Dáil this afternoon

“There are in fact people making more on the Covid payments than they were working part-time and some employers are actually telling us that it’s hard to get people to go back to work because of that.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on May 14 announcing plans to cut the Covid-19 unemployment payment as he claimed some people were milking the system.

Meanwhile…

This afternoon.

There you go now.

A little humility.

That’s wasn’t difficult.

‘sup?

This morning.

Gougane Barra, County Cork.

What a racket.

From top: Steward’s Lodge, Phoenix Park; distance between Carpenterstown and The Wellington Monument Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (right) and friends at the Monument last Sunday;

This morning.

Via Independent.ie:

On May 13, on ‘The Dermot and Dave Show’ on Today FM, the Taoiseach was asked if he was working from home and he replied: “It’s a bit of a combination, so I’m set up half in the office, half at home.”

He was then asked what the room he is working in is like to which he said: “No, no actually I’ve use of a house on the grounds of Farmleigh.”

However, when one of the hosts said this sounded “very salubrious”, Mr Varadkar said: “I’m still in my flat in Carpenterstown, though.”

The Taoiseach added there was “stuff ” in the State-owned lodge that he doesn’t have at home.

A statement issued by the Taoiseach’s Office when photos of Mr Varadkar in the park emerged said: “The Taoiseach has been in Steward’s Lodge during the last few weeks as it has secure office and videoconferencing facilities, which allows him to work from home.”

The response followed suggestions Mr Varadkar may have breached social-distancing rules by meeting his friends by the Wellington Monument in the Phoenix Park.

The Taoiseach’s apartment in his Dublin West constituency is almost 8km from the monument.

Varadkar said two weeks ago that State lodge ‘only for work’ (Independent.ie)

Yesterday: Picnicked

Monday: Sunday In The Park With Leo

Wikimedia/Google Maps/Twitter

 

From top:  St Vincent’s Hospital; Dr Peter Boylan (left) Archbishop Eamon Martin

This morning.

Dr Peter Boylan writes:

[Irish Times Religious Affairs correspondent] Patsy McGarry reports that an unnamed canon lawyer believes that “there is nothing in the letter of grant” from Rome which could be seen as “a stipulation that church canon law, doctrine or teaching must be observed by St Vincent’s Holdings, or the proposed NMH”.

This opinion is baffling.

I too have seen the letter of grant of March 16th, signed by senior Vatican official Sr Carmen Ros Nortes. She states that the Vatican grants the transfer request by the Sisters of Charity “in conformity with the petition” and that, “The provisions relating to the validity and lawfulness of alienations, found in Canons 638-639 and Canons 1292-1294 of the Code of Canon Law and in Proper Law, are to be observed.”

This last sentence is emphasised in bold type in the communication.

Thus, everything the Sisters of Charity now do in respect of transferring their 100 per cent shareholding in St Vincent’s Healthcare Group to St Vincent’s Holdings CLG must observe canon law, specifically the canons cited and must be in conformity with the reasons they gave the Vatican for wanting to undertake the transfer.

In this respect, Canon 1293 is particularly relevant. Canon 1293.1.1. requires that the Sisters of Charity must have “a just cause, such as urgent necessity, evident advantage, piety, charity, or some other grave pastoral reason” to make the transfer.

Canon 1293.2. requires that “other precautions prescribed by legitimate authority are also to be observed to avoid harm to the Church”.

As a result of the Vatican stipulations, the problem now facing the Sisters of Charity is how to effect a transfer that brings 186 years of Catholic healthcare ministry to an end, the result of which will facilitate a hospital which will perform abortions and other procedures absolutely forbidden by Catholic teaching?

Where is the “just cause” and what is the potential for such approval to cause “harm to the church” in the eyes of the faithful?

No wonder many Irish Catholics are alarmed and confused.

In comments published in the Sunday Times over the weekend, Archbishop Eamon Martin stated that “the carrying out of abortions or morally illicit medical procedures at the NMH would be repugnant” to Catholic teaching and “regardless of the eventual outcome of the proposed transfer, the church will remain clear in its public statements that there is no place in a maternity hospital for abortion”.

How does Archbishop Martin reconcile Catholic teaching on abortion with his support for the Sisters’ request to the Vatican which will clear the way for St Vincent’s Holdings CLG to own a hospital in which abortion, IVF, elective sterilisation and other procedures will constitute part of the daily routine?

What does the Primate of All Ireland consider to be the “just cause” for this transfer? Is he concerned about harm to the church?

The constitution of St Vincent’s Holdings CLG, which will own the new NMH, will surely be subject to the provisions of the canon laws outlined in the letter of grant.

This is not a theoretical discussion. The taxpayers of Ireland who will fund the new NMH, and the women of Ireland who will attend it, deserve clarity.

None of the information currently in the public domain allays well-founded fears about the potential for Catholic ethos to influence clinical practice in the new NMH.

And all this before full consideration as to why even the Irish Government would hand ownership of a €500 million maternity hospital of key national importance to a private charity. – Yours, etc,

Dr Peter Boylan
Life Governor and former Master, National Maternity Hospital,
Dublin 6.

National Maternity Hospital and canon law (Irish Times Letters)

Last week: ‘The Makings Of A Very Irish Scandal’

Rollingnews