[Top – Maurice Cummins, centre – Marc MacSharry, bottom – Paddy Burke]
The Seanad was suspended for half an hour this morning after a row broke out following claims of a conflict of interest made by Fine Gael Senator Maurice Cummins against Fianna Fáil Senator Marc MacSharry’s membership of the banking inquiry.
Cathaoirleach Paddy Burke was forced to rise to his feet (woo!) as Senator MacSharry said:
“In my years in the Senate, it is an outrage, an absolute outrage”
and later addressing the Cathaoirleach:
“What’s outrageous is what you’ve allowed the chair to do to a member of the House. It’s a disgrace. But you’re bringing this, you’ve the chair and this House into disrepute to allow this disgraceful impugning of the character of a member”
Later, Senator Paul Bradford tried to calm matters by saying:
“We are all grown adults and surely if we can adjourn for one twenty minutes or half an hour it should be possible to resolve this difficulty”
We’re not entirely sure about that assertion Senator Bradford in light of the evidence presented.
On last night’s Tonight with Vincent Browne, Vincent was joined by Louise Bayliss of single parent action group SPARK Parents to review the papers.
A headline about the Labour leadership contest in the Irish Examiner grabbed her attention.
Vincent Browne: “Louise, what do you want to focus on?”
Louise Bayliss: “Well I’m just looking in here again. We’re having ‘Former Labour deputy backs Burton’, this is inside in the Irish Examiner, page 6 of the Irish Examiner. And you’re just looking at it and you’re saying Burton and…”
Browne: “This is [Labour stalwart and former government minister] Barry Desmond yeah.”
Louise Bayliss: “You’re looking and going [Joan]Burton and Alex White, you know what is the choice there? Like, I feel sorry, I genuinely I say this hand on heart, I feel sorry for grassroot Labour members who put their faith in Labour and are now coming up with a contest between Minister Burton and Alex White. I mean Minister Burton, I know I’m coming from a lone parent’s point of view but only two weeks ago I was at a meeting in the Department of Social Protection where they were talking about the cuts coming in place for lone parents and for some reason even though I would be very aware of what was happening, I never expected that they would make no exception for lone parents with a disabled child and they haven’t. And from next July, a lone parent with a disabled child will lose €86 a week from their weekly income when their child turns 7. For no other reason, their child turns 7, they lose €86 from their weekly income. 27% of their income, that’s a decision made specifically by Minister Burton. That’s not imposed on her by anybody, that was chosen by her and when we’ve tried to put this out she will not listen us. And then we have the other choice of..”
Browne: “Have you spoken to her about this?”
Bayliss: “We have spoken to her.”
Browne: “Person to person?”
Bayliss: “I actually have spoken to her person to person.”
Browne: “And what did she say?”
Bayliss: [Waves hand] “We’ll sort it out, we’ll sort it out. She basically would not debate with us. We’ve written to her. I spoke to her face to face and she just literally just waved me aside as if my concerns meant nothing and you know I think we’re talking about austerity and I do not know any other sector who could take a 27% cut in their income and yet a lone parent; 98% who are women, are going to lose 27% of their income because their disabled child turns 7. They are no more able to work when their child was 6. They are trapped at home and there’s nobody speaking up for them and you know when I look at this and I know that Labour grassroot members hear what I’m saying and they look and they have this choice to make between Minister White who defended medical card cuts and Minister Burton who thinks a lone parent with a disabled child can bear the most cuts, I feel saddened for the Labour party.”
Browne: “Do you think it makes any difference who’s Labour leader?”
Bayliss: “No, I don’t. At this stage, I don’t. Not from the choices that are made here.”
Pope Francis said that staying childless will ultimately bring married couples nothing but “the bitterness of loneliness”.
The Pope also counselled childless couples to be fruitful and multiply, and not spend time raising pets when they could be raising children. He said that while a childless life offers better vacation opportunities, it will end in solitude:
This culture of well-being from ten years ago convinced us: ‘It’s better not to have children! It’s better! You can go explore the world, go on holiday, you can have a villa in the countryside, you can be care-free… it might be better – more comfortable – to have a dog, two cats, and the love goes to the two cats and the dog. Is this true or is this not? Have you seen it? Then, in the end this marriage comes to old age in solitude, with the bitterness of loneliness. It is not fruitful, it does not do what Jesus does with his Church: He makes His Church fruitful.
Earlier in Castlebar, Pat The Cope Gallagher conceded defeat after calling for a recount.
Luke Ming Flanagan (Ind), Matt Carthy (Sinn Féin), Mairead McGuinness (Fine Gael), Ronan Mullen (Ind) and Marian Harkin (Ind) will represent Ireland Midlands–North-West in the European Parliament.
[Top – Maurice Cummins, centre – Marc MacSharry, bottom – Paddy Burke]
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