Pat
Rabbitte got himself into a bit of hot water when he told RTE last weekend that
he thought it would be a regressive step if the Church started ‘dictating’ to
politicians again.

Seeing as
he had been ask to comment on Cardinal Sean Brady’s remark on the same
programme that the Church might lobby politicians on the abortion issue, it was
fair enough that people assumed Rabbitte was trying to forbid the Church from
lobbying, a democratic right enjoyed by every other organisation in the country.

Tanaiste Eamon
Gilmore has now conceded that the Church does indeed enjoy this right. Good to
know.

But even if
we allow the Rabbitte didn’t mean lobbying when he said ‘dictating’, it would
also be useful to know what he meant by ‘dictating’.

For
example, are the trades unions ‘dictating’ when they demand this or that of the
Government? Is IBEC ‘dictating’ when it makes demands? Or newspaper leader
writers for that matter? Are they allowed to do this sort of ‘dictating’? If they can do it, why not the Church?

In any
event, I’ve written about the Rabbitte comments at more length in The Irish
Catholic this week. To read it click here.