A debate is taking place in the Dail today and tomorrow over the issue of abortion. Here are some points TDs should keep in mind as the debate begins. The real issue is repeal of the 8th amendment. Any legislation that is enacted, however permissive, will only be the starting point. If the pro-life amendment...
In his Irish Times column this week, Fintan O’Toole expresses the opinion that there is an inconsistency between Church-run schools prioritising children of their own faith in the event of overcrowding, but not doing so when Church-run hospitals are overcrowded. Actually, there isn’t. The key is what is and isn’t necessary to uphold the ethos...
Is it acceptable for an EU Commissioner, in an interview with an Irish newspaper, to give public backing to abortion with a referendum looming and given that the issue does not fall within the jurisdiction of the EU? Well, if the shoe was on the other foot, what would the reaction have been? The Commissioner...
By David Mullins All kinds of restrictions are placed on the kinds of experiments that can be conducted on animals, but the proposed Assisted Human Reproduction Act 2017 does not do the same for human embryos. Surely this would strike any reasonable person as extremely unethical especially when the experiments kill the embryo? The...
The hopes of stay-at-home parents to get the support and recognition they deserve were again dashed as new Fine Gael childcare proposals aim to help working parents who employ childminders, but not parents who give up work to mind their own children themselves. This is despite opinion polls showing a big majority of voters believes...
A common argument put forward by those who advocate the repeal of the pro-life amendment is that the Constitution is no place to deal with the ‘complexities’ of abortion. Better by far to leave all of that to the wisdom of the legislature, so the reasoning goes. While not entirely unsurprising, the fact that this...
By David Mullins The Oireachtas Committee of the Eighth Amendment has published its final Report. While its recommendation to advocate ‘Repeal Simpliciter,’ or the total abolition of the Eighth Amendment is deeply disturbing, it was well flagged. The same cannot be said for some of the other less ‘controversial’ recommendations that have slipped quietly below...
In the run-up to the marriage referendum of May 2015, The Iona Institute predicted that under the proposed redefinition of marriage two straight male (or female) friends would be permitted to marry as a way of avoiding inheritance tax. The Referendum Commission confirmed to us that this would be permitted, and now it is happening,...
As Ireland prepares for an abortion referendum next year, the Oireachtas Justice Committee is already considering assisted suicide. One of the experts to appear before it was gerontologist, Professor Des O’Neill. He flagged to the committee what he called ‘gero-eugenics’ that is, the deliberate elimination of the elderly. He also warned of the assault on...
By David Mullins Last Friday Amnesty International Ireland confirmed that the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) had found it to be in open breach of these laws with respect to how it had used a grant of €137,000 for Irish abortion reform from billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. Amnesty is defying SIPO by...
