You report that the United Nations has found that Ireland is one of the best places to live. According to the UN’s Human Development Programme Index, we sit behind only Norway, Switzerland and Australia.
This is very strange because, based on a lifetime of reading The Irish Times and listening to RTÉ, I had assumed I lived in a backward, misogynistic, capitalist hellhole.
Karl Martin,
Bayside,
Dublin 13.
From top Croke Park on Saturday; Half-time video featuring Irish Rangers on manoeuvres
Saturday.
Croke Park, Dublin
Ros writes:
Was at the hurling semi final on Saturday. They had some of the armed forces out holding large flags at the beginning of the match to mark 60 years of Ireland in the UN. Fair enough.
At half time though they showed this video. Not sure what a video of people “locking and loading” rifles has got to do with peacekeeping, it was bizarre to say the least. Seemed overly militaristic.
Anyone?
This afternoon.
Rosie Hackett Bridge, Dublin 1
A coalition of Irish NGOs call for the government to follow through on “the promise Ireland made when signing the UN Sustainable Development Agenda” in 2015.
The grouping displayed a giant banner on Rosie Hackett Bridge and lead a march through Dublin City centre to mark the 2nd anniversary of the adoption of the Agenda 2030.
New world order, dude.
Fight!
Rollingnews
Yesterday.
The Curragh, County Kildare
The 56th Infantry Group completed the first week of their ‘mission readiness exercise’ in preparation for their forthcoming deployment to the United Nations Disengagement Observation Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights in October.
Eamonn writes:
This phase of training is a culmination of three months of intensive preparation for deployment overseas. The Mission Readiness Exercise puts commanders and soldiers through a series of demanding scenarios based on potential threats that may be encountered in the mission area.
Troops secured, extracted and evacuated personnel involved in a complex scenario. The 56th Infantry Group will rotate into the mission area under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Dermot Hanifin. They have a wide range of capabilities including Armoured Force Protection, Patrolling and Mobility, Communications, Medical and Operational Expertise.
Fight!
Defence Forces / RollingNews.ie
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has published its latest findings on Ireland.
The Committee has urged “the State party” to, “within a specific timeframe” :
Amend article 41.2 of the Constitution in order to remove the stereotypical language on the role of women in the home;
Introduce legislative provisions that underline the obligation of the State to pursue actively the achievement of substantive equality between women and men; and
Amend article 40.3.33 of the Constitution (also known as the Eighth Amendment), which impedes the introduction of amendments to current legislation governing access to abortion…
…The Committee is particularly concerned that legislation which discriminates against women, or has a disproportionately negative impact on women, falls outside the scope of the Equal Status Acts 2000 – 2015.
The Committee recommends that the State party amends section 14 of the Equal Status Acts 2000-2015 to ensure that an effective remedy is available for discrimination that has a legislative basis.
There you go now.
Report here
Ronan Grant writes:
I came across this the other day. The official plot of this movie made me think it couldn’t possibly be a real movie. Then I watched the trailer… It’s like a Trump fever dream. Now I can’t wait to watch this piece of poo movie. A fictional depiction of a future wherein a globalist terrorist organization aligned with the United Nations to disable the United States’ power grid and institutes Martial Law. It will take a dedicated family of patriots armed with strong survival skills and the remains of the Second Amendment to save America and reclaim its freedom.
From top: Amanda Mellet and her husband James Burke; Taoiseach Enda Kenny; and a video of Mr Kenny responding to questions from Ruth Coppinger TD yesterday
My view is that if we were to decide to have a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment in October, it would not be passed. I will explain why.
There needs to be a real discussion here. If we are going to attempt to remove this from the Constitution, people will want to know what we intend to replace it with. I have had problems with this genuine question.
With respect, I do not accept from the Deputy that we should make a rush to judgment in this instance.
The UN committee’s verdict in this sensitive and distressing case is non-binding. It is not like the European court. It speaks for the distress caused to this good woman. As the Deputy knows, another case is being processed.
It is right and proper for us to follow the route of having a properly selected citizens’ assembly that is able to do its business of reflecting on the eighth amendment and what it might mean.
The assembly will consider what changes, if any, should be made to the eighth amendment and how they might be made.
If we are to ask people to vote on this issue, at least we should be able to tell them what will replace the eighth amendment if they vote for its removal. People need to know the options and the consequences.
I genuinely believe people have a right to be able to discuss these things. This matter divided Irish society for over 30 years. I ask the Deputy to believe me when I say it is not a question of a lack of courage.
It is a question of understanding that the entire population has a responsibility and a role in this regard. It is not as simple as saying that a referendum should be held to take out the eighth amendment without saying what it will be replaced with.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny speaking during Leaders’ Questions yesterday.
He was speaking in response to questions from AAA-PBP TD Ruth Coppinger, in light of the UN Human Rights Committee’s findings on the case of Amanda Mellet.
Meanwhile…
That really pisses me off. No hurry, says Enda, as even now Irish couples are living with the reality of a FFA.
— Graham Linehan (@Glinner) June 15, 2016
Previously: ‘The Ashes Were Unexpectedly Delivered To Her Three Weeks Later By Courier’
Transcript via Oireachtas.ie
Taoiseach Enda Kenny fielding questions from journalists earlier today.
Further to the UN’s criticism of Ireland’s abortion laws…
Now @EndaKennyTD talking about the eighth amendment. Saying it is divisive and he has struggled with it. Has received letters from families-
— harrymcgee (@harrymcgee) June 10, 2016
Taoiseach says the UN HRC decision on abortion is not binding on Ireland. ‘Every woman … is entitled to proper counselling’
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 10, 2016
Previously: ‘The Ashes Were Unexpectedly Delivered To Her Three Weeks Later By Courier’
Earlier: On Message
Last night.
On RTÉ’s Prime Time, presenter David McCullagh spoke to Gerry Edwards, of Termination for Medical Reasons Ireland, and Tracy Harkin, of Every Life Counts, about the UN’s criticism of Ireland’s abortion laws.
From last night’s discussion:
Tracy Harkin: “I think, myself, as a mother, who has a daughter who has been diagnosed with a life-limiting disability, I find this report from the United Nations disturbing for a number of reasons. Firstly, I suppose what’s deeply distressing for many parents involved in our support network, and other charities that work with families that have lost babies to these conditions is the language the United Nations has chosen to use.”
“Terms like ‘fatal foetal abnormality’, ‘incompatible with life’, they’re such harsh sounding, dehumanising terms. And I think for parents like myself and for the many parents throughout Ireland who have lost their little ones to these conditions, that’s not how they see their children at all.”
“Their experiences have not been heard by in this report which is deeply disturbing; parents have been speaking out, for example, in our organisation, Every Life Counts, for the last few years, calling for better support and services to be rolled out in maternity hospitals throughout Ireland to help them make the most of the time to parent their child, to love their child, to hug their child, to, you know, smell their child as any mother wants to.”
“And this is so important, such an important pathway to healing for these mothers and I think it’s alarming that the only option, or solution that the United Nations is fixated on is abortion. You know, these are children, human beings with severe disabilities and there’s not an agreed list, neither will be, and I think for us parents, for myself, before I had my little daughter Kathleen Rose, who’s now 9 years of age, you know she’s such a wonderful little character, she’s brought such joy to my life. Many of our parents didn’t have that time with their little ones and maybe only had minutes or days but they all said that that time was so important to healing. And there’s more and more research coming out to show that, in contrast, abortion increases despair and depression among mothers because they don’t have that closure.”
David McCullagh: “Tracy Harkin, sorry to cut across you, you talk about having services available to allow parents to spend time with their children, however short that time unfortunately may be. And I don’t think anybody’s suggesting that people shouldn’t be able to make that choice. But simply that others, who feel differently, shouldn’t be deprived of their choice, for what is best for their family.”
Harkin: “Well, I think the main thing here is accurate information and I think what’s missing from this whole conversation is also to look at what’s happened in other countries. What has the impact been of legislation in other countries. You look at the UK for example, over 90% of children with any disability whatsoever are aborted right up to birth. I mean most of us have their children with Down syndrome, Spina Bifida, in our communities, we love them, we fundraise for them. There’s a chilling effect to legislation here which the United Nations has chosen to ignore, time and time again. And it’s also important to mention that this case was brought forward by the Centre for Reproductive Rights which are a large, wealthy organisation with many millions at their disposal and their only focus, worldwide, is to promote abortion…”
Later
Gerry Edwards: “I think it’s very important, again in the interest of language, that we are quite clear that there is a difference between disabilities and life-limiting conditions and fatal foetal anomalies which are conditions which are not capable of sustaining independent life outside the womb.”
“Our son had a condition called severe anencephaly. Most of his skull was missing and his brain was missing. He could not sustain independent life, there was no question whatsoever of him surviving for any length of time. And that was confirmed to us by five different medical professionals in three hospitals in two jurisdictions.”
“My wife would have been forced to continue with that pregnancy for five more months in this country, not able to bear the social contact with other people, working with the people that she worked with, being stopped by people on the streets, in the full knowledge that our son would not die, or would not live, I beg your pardon. And this was the situation which was absolute torture for us and we made a decision which was in our best interest and in the best interest of our family.”
“And that decision required us to leave our carers, leave our family and travel to another state. We did spend time with our son, he was delivered naturally, he had an induced labour, we got to spend time with him but we would have got to spend more time with him had we been able to go through that process here in Ireland.”
“Our family members would have gotten to meet him, we would have had the dignity of having a funeral and a community to stand with us and support us in our loss. Instead we got a jiffy envelope, delivered by a courier a couple of weeks later. That’s unacceptable.”
Later
Edwards: “It’s the responsibility of our legislators to legislate. They also have an obligation to uphold international human rights law. This isn’t imposed upon Ireland. This is something that Ireland signed up to. There was a discussion earlier on in the programme about upholding the law and Ireland is one of those countries that has pledged to uphold international human rights law and we’ll find out very soon whether our Government is going to honour that commitment it made and actually take steps to change our legal environment soon.”
Watch Prime Time back in full here
Meanwhile,
On TV3’s Tonight With Vincent Browne last night…
During the newspaper review, the panel – Senator Lynn Ruane, Breda O’Brien, of the Iona Institute; Sinéad O’Carroll, of The Journal.ie and Ger Colleran,former editor of the Irish Daily Star – also discussed the UN’s criticism.
From the discussion…
Mick Clifford: “Breda, ‘Cabinet to defy UN on abortion reforms’ [the main headline on today’s Irish Examiner]. This is not going to go away and some people would say all roads to a referendum one way or the other.”
Breda O’Brien: “Well I’m absolutely delighted if that’s an accurate headline in the Irish Examiner because this committee is part of a huge push that there is to kind of, in a sense, the UN treaty say ‘do not give any right to abortion’ but these committees have been pushing this agenda for years. And they’re stuffed with people who share a point of view which is that the baby in the womb does not have equal rights with the mother. And of course they’re going to find that something is cruel and inhumane and degrading, but I had the privilege of accompanying a friend of mine when she had a baby with a life-limiting condition and..”
Clifford: “But there’s stories like that but there’s also the other side…”
Sinead O’Carroll: “Fatal foetal abnormality is different to life-limiting…”
O’Brien: “No, life-limiting condition is the term used by hospice, it’s the term used by…”
O’Carroll: “Fatal foetal abnormality is the term used by doctors when they give diagnoses to women with fatal foetal abnormality…”
O’Brien: “But also, people, I think fatal foetal abnormality is one that people who have had babies with life-limiting conditions have asked to have it removed because it is so offensive. Your child is not a fatal foetal abnormality, no more than somebody with leukaemia is a cancer.”
Ger Colleran: “It’s the condition, not the child…”
O’Brien: “But that’s what, people have actually said in the media, they’ve said things like, ‘the fatal foetal abnormality’ as if that were, it’s a child who has a life-limiting condition…”
Clifford: “Breda, do you believe there’ll be a referendum?”
O’Brien: “I hope that there will be good sense and that people will see that this is a matter of equal rights and that they should leave it as it is.”
Lynne Ruane: “There will be.”
Clifford: “Ok, well, we’re going to have to leave it for that because that’s it now, we’ve run out of time..”
Watch back in full here
Previously: ‘The Ashes Were Unexpectedly Delivered To Her Three Weeks Later By Courier’
Souda camp on Chios island, following a fire
Leslie Meral Schick is volunteering on the island of Chios in Greece.
On Tuesday, she wrote the following:
I’m really struggling to post about yesterday’s events and would much prefer not to, but they have to be told.
In the morning, I attended a coordination meeting of all agencies and NGOs involved on the island. The meeting was chaired by a UNHCR rep; the agenda was long.
Three huge issues – which should have been covered by multiple contingency plans a very long time ago – remained yet again unaddressed:
1. The unbelievable overcrowding in all three Chios camps and resulting inhumane living conditions in some; also plans for housing any new arrivals (which everyone believes is a matter of time; I personally think Erdoğan has his hand on the faucet and will deploy what he deems his most powerful threat against the EU whenever necessary).
2. Escape plans in case of emergencies such as a fire.
3. The fact that – as has been made clear for months now – the food situation is entirely unsustainable.
Currently meals for 1600 refugees are provided by volunteer-run and donation-funded kitchens; the funding is scheduled to run out on June 16.
The UNHCR has no plans in response to any of these three important issues. None.
Their representative pointed out that this is Europe, and that people will surely not be allowed to starve in Europe. Um.
The food has been entirely inadequate. It’s good — but insufficient. The living conditions in some areas, including much of Chios, are ungodly.
I was in Athens last week, struggling to find any housing with running water for a family with a hospitalised newborn and a one-year-old – and supplying people living in tiny tents with no running or drinking water, no electricity, no food, no services whatsoever, with food packages purchased through donations.
None of what is happening is permissible, or humane, or acceptable by any stretch of the imagination. So hearing that surely, surely Europe would not allow refugees to go without food, and waiting until the last moment for a magic wand or magic dust to be sprinkled, is not exactly satisfactory.
The UNHCR will not provide funding for food. There is no plan. Today is the 7th. The kitchens will run out of money in 9 days.
It was pointed out repeatedly that the situation is already dire, that nerves are already beyond frayed, and that serious issues were likely to ensue if food should not be provided.
I know that if any of us were living in these conditions and if our children were hungry and if we had no choices, we would be pushed to the brink too. There was unanimous agreement. Tongues were clucked. The meeting was adjourned.
About four hours later, a large fire was set in Souda Camp. Those responsible have not yet been identified, though they were obviously frustrated refugees at the end of their wits.
Several containers housing NGO offices and a large tent housing refugees were burned to the ground. Walking through the camp and talking to people later I found them not angry, but devastatingly sad.
I sat in someone’s tent as she told how they had escaped bombing in Syria only to find themselves in such horrible conditions – and now, this. She was crying.
A small contingent of local Golden Dawn members immediately took the opportunity to situate themselves at the entrance to the camp and to prevent already traumatized refugees from leaving the site; I heard that a few had been violent, and that some refugees were hit.
It’s just impossible to comprehend how this can be happening, broadcast for all to see.
There is huge need for support of all kinds. Rally your representatives, come and volunteer, donate funds to reliable volunteers and to small NGOs. Please help these desperate people in any way that you can.
Leslie is crowdfunding to support volunteers here
Previously: Order Out Of Chios
