Category Archives: News

news as it is happening-ish

The Cork GP Faculty of the ICGP (Irish College of General Practitioners) has unanimously voted in favour of all three abortion motions defeated only last month at the IMO’s AGM, Irish Medical Times has learned. The Faculty is now proposing them at the ICGP AGM this weekend in Galway and is confident of getting them passed. Cork GP Dr Mary Favier, who is a founding member of reproductive rights campaigning organisation Doctors for Choice, last week told IMT that the Faculty was proposing roughly the same three motions debated at the IMO AGM.


GPs pass abortion motions (Lloyd Mudiwa, Irish Medical Times)

Previously: Carried In Good Faith

(RTE)

 

 

 

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Father Conleth Byrne avoided jail today for defrauding Loughinisland parish of £145,000. He received a two-year suspended sentence at Downpatrick Crown Court. Judge ruled £100,000 has to be paid back and states full motive may never be known but accepts Father Byrne was naive in lending to the woman in ‘dire need’. Father Byrne apologised to his parishioners through his barrister in court but refused to comment outside court.

The money was just resting in his account….

Fr Conleth Byrne gets suspended sentence for £145,000 fraud (BBC News NI)

Down Recorder (Facebook)

FlanGarveyITTralee_largeThe Institute of Technology Tralee’s Flan Garvey.

You don’t get to stand in front of leatherbound books wearing a cape by scrimping.

The chair of Institute of Technology Tralee’s governing body may soon have to review his position after being embroiled in controversy over high expenses payments and a plagiarism investigation, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has indicated.

The minister is to ask the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to probe expenses across the 14 institutes of technology, after it has emerged that Flan Garvey [above] was paid more than €125,000 in expenses by the college from 2005 to 2011, far higher than any other board member. Mr Garvey last week said he welcomed his vindication after a successful appeal against a finding that his degree awarded for a research masters at IT Tralee (ITT) was unjustified because of plagiarism. His average expenses of almost €18,000 in the seven years to 2011 were multiples of those paid to any other governing body member.

 

IT Tralee expenses paid to Flan Garvey:

2005: €12,532.46

2006: €20,920.50

2007: €17,765.61

2008: €21,642.79

2009: €11,510.22

2010: €21,086.82

2011: €20,285.51

Total: €125,743.91

ITT chair in spotlight over hefty expenses (Niall Murray, Irish Examiner)

Chair of institute has plagiarism ruling overturned (Niall Murray, Irish Examiner)

Pic: Irish Examiner

FERGUSSON DAVID 2010He just squints like that in the sun.

We’ve been asked to print the fairly strange clarification made on today’s ‘Morning Ireland’ by Cathal MacCoille at the behest of the Iona Institute.

It regarded on-air speculation about New Zealand Professor David Fergusson’s state of mind when he discovered his research was being used by the Iona Institute

As the institute are usually such sticklers for this type of thing we are happy to oblige.

‘On Tuesday, May 7th, we broadcast interviews with Professor David Fergusson of Otago University, Christchurch, New Zealand and with Professor Patricia Casey, Consultant Psychiatrist in UCD and the Mater. The subject was the reported unhappiness by Professor Fergusson at the way his research was being interpreted by pro-life parties to the abortion debate here. In the course of the interview with Professor Casey, I said that Professor Fergusson had said he was unhappy at the way the Iona Institute had been citing his research. In fact, Professor Fergusson did not say he was unhappy with how the Iona Institute quoted his research and we’re happy to clarify that.’

 

Listen To Professor Fergusson’s interview here and YOU decide

Previously: Messy Fergusson Detractor

Pic: University of Otago

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“It is time for some plain speaking. Everybody knows that the Bill is the product of political expediency (and, for the Labour Party, an important and necessary step on a sure road to wide-ranging abortion). Those who are lawyers know that it is not legally required. Those who are doctors know that it is not medically necessary. And those who are psychiatrists know that it is actually damaging to the welfare of some of their patients.”

 

TCD Law Professor William Binchy (above) writing in today’s Irish Times says the proposed abortion legislation is not required.

This, despite Professor Binchy being a campaigner for the 8th Amendment in 1983.

The wording of which was described at the time as “a legal time bomb”.

With then attorney general Patrick Connolly correctly predicting that it “might well have the effect of threatening the right of the mother” to have a life-saving operation“.

Binchy refers to Dr Rhona Mahony as “Dr Rhona O’Mahony”, a minor faux pas but indicative of the importance of fact checking.

It’s time we had some plain speaking on abortion Bill (William Binchy, Irish Times)

Abortion referendum wording was seen as ‘time bomb’ (Joe Humphreys, Irish Times)

Previously: And So It Came To Pass

What Rhona Said

(Wanderley Massafelli /Photocall Ireland, YouTube)