Category Archives: News

news as it is happening-ish

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Protests outside the Marie Stopes clinic in Belfast in 2012

An abortion clinic in Belfast has been training volunteers to escort clients past anti-abortion protesters. Escorts trained in the use of body-worn cameras have been accompanying clients of the Marie Stopes clinic to and from its city centre building.

A Northern Ireland Assembly member has said the measure is an over-reaction to the protests. There have been regular protests since the clinic opened in Great Victoria Street in 2012.

Clinic director Dawn Purvis said the protests were having an effect on clients, and that the clinic had to respond. “The women that come to us are very upset and very frightened by the behaviour of the protesters,” she said. “Our volunteers have been through a vetting scheme and a very intense training course in de-escalation methods and how to deal with conflict.”

The escorts have also been trained in additional security measures including body-worn CCTV cameras and distress calls.

However, DUP MLA Jim Wells supports the protests outside the clinic and said they are important and peaceful. “I have spoken to some of the protesters and they do try to talk to women and persuade them not to have an abortion, but certainly watching what goes on, I don’t see anything that would cause me concern.” He said the clinic has gone “over the top” by introducing the escort scheme and additional security measures.

Meanwhile, an harassment case against Precious Life founder Bernie Smyth is due to resume on Tuesday next.

Anti-abortion campaigner harassed Purvis, court told (Irish News)

Marie Stopes clinic in protest escorts move (Robbie Meredith, BBC News NI)

Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

00090942Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan

The Bishop of Galway appears to have rowed back on his strong stance on the St Vincent de Paul (SVP) donation towards a gay resource centre, telling a member of the public that he “got it badly wrong”.

There have been calls for Dr Martin Drennan to resign in the wake of his comments on Galway Bay FM last week about the €45,000 allocation to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community support group Amach.

He described gay culture as “morally wrong” and said he had a problem with the “moral judgment” involved with making the decision by the SVP.

Salthill resident Cormac Ryan wrote an email to the Bishop after hearing the interview, describing his remarks as “deeply offensive, uncharitable and unchristian”.

A reply the following day from the Diocesan email address, which was also sent to the Bishop’s Diocesan secretary, thanked him for the letter.

“My humble apologies for the hurt caused. I got it badly wrong,” it said.

Vice chairperson of Amach, Nuala Ward, invited the Bishop to sit down and talk with the organisation to discuss their work, which involved collaborating with bodies such as the Health Service Executive, the Gardaí and suicide prevention groups.

Meanwhile..

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Tackling poverty is what the SVP does best. But Galway LGBT Amach! is a campaigning organisation. It even helped promote a pro-abortion march in Galway last year. That’s the opposite of reaching out to the poor and marginalised.

And it’s not as though left-wing, liberal causes are stuck for money these days. When it comes to friends in the media and funds from millionaires, gay rights projects are top dogs, not underdogs.

Did SVP Galway ask Amach! whether it would be campaigning for the redefinition of marriage next year? Might its resource centre and facilities be used in that referendum?

It’s a strange thing, but heaven help you if you dare to regret using the poor box to fund a campaigning gay rights organisation.

Update:

nuala

 

Enda Cunningham [of the Connacht Tribune] writes:

Purely in the interest of balance, there is actually a third piece [above] in the Tribune today – it’s from Nuala Ward, Vice Chair of Amach LGBT.

Bishop of Galway says he got it ‘badly wrong’ (Denise McNamara, Galway City Tribune)

Previously: How Dare They?

Graham Hughes/Photocall Ireland

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On last night’s Tonight with Vincent Browne, Vincent was joined by UCD lecturer Ailbhe Smyth and John McGuirk to review the newspapers.

The discussion turned to Paul Cullen’s story in the Irish Times of staff in University Hospital Galway being disciplined in relation to the care of Savita Halappanavar.

Watch in full here.

Hospital staff in Savita Halappanavar case ‘disciplined’ after review (Paul Cullen, Irish Times)

Previously: When Dr Boylan Met Dr Kiely

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7atoxEXSwQ

Former heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson verbally abuses host Nathan Downer on live Canadian television when that thing we never talk about is mentioned.

He was in Toronto to perform his one-man show and support Mayor Rob Ford’s re-election bid.

Good luck with that.

Warning: contains NSFW language.

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Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki discusses her breakup with Rory McIlroy to Graham Bensinger of Yahoo Sports..

“He made it very public from the start. He put out a press release* and all of that so I didn’t have a choice.

I was shocked. I thought I would get a face to face or something but there was nothing. It was just a phone call and I did not hear from him again.”

Oof.

Watch here.

* Yes them.

Previously: New Balls

comm Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, Portarlington

Ireland has appointed a government official with experience at multinational companies as its new data protection commissioner to head up a body which acts as regulator to the likes of Google and Facebook outside North America.

Helen Dixon, currently the Irish Registrar of Companies, spent 11 years working with two U.S. technology firms with their European bases in Ireland, including software company Citrix Systems, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The best breakfast rolls in Portarlington are found next door, probably.

Ample parking.

Train station nearby.

Win win win.

Ireland appoints data protection chief with corporate background (Padraic Halpin, Reuters)

Pic: Google Street View

stanton-logo

An American anti-abortion healthcare provider is planning to open a clinic in Belfast, the BBC has learned. Stanton Healthcare aims to have a clinic operating in the city centre by early 2015.

Representatives from Stanton Healthcare recently visited Belfast, and the BBC understands that they have identified premises on Great Victoria Street in the city as a site for the clinic. The facility would therefore be close to Belfast’s Marie Stopes clinic, which has been open since 2012.

The BBC understands that Stanton Healthcare plans to offer pregnancy counselling and also medical facilities like ultrasound scans. The firm has claimed that over 90% of what they describe as “abortion-vulnerable women” who have ultrasound scans at their Boise clinic choose to give birth.

However, its staff are working closely with the Northern Ireland-based anti-abortion organisation, Precious Life. Bernadette Smyth from Precious Life welcomed Stanton Healthcare’s plans. “We would hope that women in crisis pregnancy would be given free ultrasound, free pregnancy tests and support,” she told BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme. “We want to provide a better service that’s not available here.”


Stanton Healthcare to open anti-abortion clinic in Belfast (Robbie Meredith, BBC News NI)

Previously: Pure Hatstand

Ultra Sound

Meanwhile, On Great Victoria Street, Belfast