News Roundup

Dept of Education attacked over lack of consultation on school divestment

Parents involved in the row over the potential divestment of a Catholic school in North County Dublin have reacted with fury to their portrayal in the media and political debate.

Cliodna Gilroy, who has two children at St Marnock’s National School, told Dublin Live, “this is being portrayed in the media as though we’re thick as pigsh*t and all we’re worried about is Christmas being cancelled. It’s not that simple. Is it right that my kids could be discriminated against because they’re Catholic?”

She said the ethos of the school means a lot more than religion and added: “So please don’t just assume that the Church – who again have not been present at any meetings parents have had in relation to this – are scaremongering slack-jawed yokels.

“It’s insulting, it’s disingenuous and it’s plain cynical”

Minister for Education, Joe McHugh, put out a statement that Christmas won’t be ignored by other patron bodies. However, Educate Together schools do not hold nativity plays or sing hymns, and neither Educate Together nor ETB schools do sacramental preparation in school time.

Meanwhile, Howth Malahide Area Committee Meeting of Fingal County Council passed a motion calling for parents and stakeholders to be fully consulted.

Labour councillor, Brian McDonough, who proposed the motion, also rapped the Department of Education for failing to properly inform parents and for proposing far too tight a timeframe to make the change.

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Franciscan brother in Kenyan school named Global teacher of the year

A Kenyan teacher has received a rapturous welcome home after being presented with the Global Teacher of the Year award by the Oscar winning actor, Hugh Jackman, at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.

Peter Tabicchi is a Franciscan brother whose religious community was founded by Irish missionaries from Mountbellew Agricultural College, Galway, in 1976.

He teaches Maths and Physics and sustainable agricultural practices in a community ravaged by war and poverty in the Rift Valley of Kenya.

Despite natural disadvantages, his students have won national and international prizes for their science projects.

He said the award is a testament to his students who, he believes, have the potential to solve many of Africa’s problems.

Brother Tabicchi used to spend 80% of his salary on making sure his students could attend school. He has pledged to give the entire one million prize money for winning the award to help local community development.

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China accused over mass internment of Muslims

Chinese authorities have been accused of detaining more than one million ethnic minorities of the Muslim faith in internment camps in the north west of the country.

Callista Gingrich, the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, said that ethnic Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other minorities are subjected to repressive surveillance, confiscations of Qurans, torture, sexual abuse and death.

Speaking ahead of an event in Rome to promote religious freedom, she said it is critical that China be pressured to clean up its act.

Reports of the camps have appeared in international media over the last few months.

A week ago, in response to a question from Mattie McGrath TD, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs expressed ‘concern’ about the incarceration by China of up to a million Uighur Muslims, but did not express condemnation.

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Madigan makes case for liberalising divorce laws

A bill to hold a referendum to ease the constitutional restrictions on divorce was passed by the Dáil yesterday.

It is planned to excise from the constitution any waiting time for divorce. Currently a couple must be separated for four out of the last five years. The Government wishes to pass a law to cut this to two years. After that, any future Oireachtas can cut if further. The referendum on divorce will take place on May 24th, the same day as the local and European elections.

Minister for Culture Josepha Madigan made the case for the change yesterday. She said that in the 2015 Census 118,000 people declared themselves as separated and “we need to treat them with humanity and compassion”. She said that making divorce easier by reducing the waiting period “will help thousands of couples in Ireland who have suffered marital breakdown.” She had previously wanted a waiting period left in the Constitution.

Solidarity TD Paul Murphy, however, said there should be waiting time. He said there was a right to marry and there should be a “right to divorce without interference or judgment by State or Church”.

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Strong opposition to divesting Catholic school in north Dublin

Opposition to the potential divesting of one out of eight Catholic primary schools in north County Dublin erupted in full view yesterday. The Department of Education are looking at Catholic primary schools in Portmarnock, Malahide and Kinsealy with a view to transferring one of them to a multi-denominational or non-denominational Educate Together school. Staff in at least three schools have written letters to parents warning of the possible consequences of a divestment of Catholic patronage, such as the ending of preparing children for the sacraments in school time and the celebration of feast days. Parents took to the airwaves and expressed their own objections. One woman told Ciara Kelly’s Newstalk show that her daughter has had six years of a Catholic Gaelscoil education but, if the school’s ethos changes in September, she will be forced to forfeit a Catholic education or move to another school and forfeit her Gaelscoil. Other parents complained of a lack of information of what might follow a divestment of patronage.

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Pro-Life film exceeds box office expectation in US

A pro-life film has exceeded all expectations becoming the fifth most watched movie in cinemas in the US on its opening weekend.

Forbes reports that Unplanned, a $6 million-budgeted film, about a former Planned Parenthood clinic director turned pro-life activist, earned $2.72 million on Friday, setting the stage for a likely $7.25 million debut weekend.

The movie did unexpectedly well despite receiving an R rating and an almost complete lack of coverage from the media, as well as overcoming numerous obstacles to its platforms on social media.

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IFPA Director says women confused about timing of 12 week window on unrestricted abortion

Many women are unclear on when the 12 week window to have an abortion for any reason begins, leading to fraught situations to get appointments, according to the Medical Director of the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) Dr Caitriona Henchion.

“There has been a huge amount of confusion regarding what 12 weeks means, particularly because, for example, the pregnancy tests that a lot of women get in the pharmacy actually give them an estimate of date, but they are counting from conception… the legislation is based on counting from last period, which means you immediately have to add two weeks onto what you thought,” Dr Henchion told the Medical Independent.

She said that this can cause “a panic” to try and get an appointment on time.

“And some of the hospitals are really, really helpful, but at the same time they only have a certain number of appointments and it is only certain days of the week. They may be full and they may not be able to take any more and they may not have any theatre slots available and you get into this very, very fraught situation of trying to find someone a place to go,” she added.

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Half of teenagers will never marry, predicts think-tank

Research by the Marriage Foundation predicts that just 57 per cent of girls and 55 per cent of boys currently aged 13 to 18 will marry in their lifetimes.

The figures, obtained from Office of National Statistics data, represent a steep decline from previous generations where, among people now in their 60s, 91 per cent of women and 86 per cent of men have married.

The study also reveals that current marriage rates among under-25s have plunged virtually to zero, with just eight per cent of women and four per cent of men in that age group getting married. This is because of young people now waiting until they are in their 30s to marry, compared with only a few decades ago.

The former Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, warned that the authorities must act. He said: ‘The Government should be putting more money into marriage education. Teaching young people about relationships should be more than just giving them facts about sex. We should also be recognising marriage in a more favourable tax structure.’

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Irish fertility clinics offering treatments of doubtful benefit

Numerous enhanced and often expensive fertility treatments are offered in Irish fertility clinics despite them being of doubtful effectiveness, according to The Sunday Times.

The treatments are offered as expensive “add-ons” to a normal course of IVF, with the promise of increasing the chances of a successful pregnancy. However, in the UK the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has said of the very same add-ons that there is either no evidence that the treatments are safe and effective, or that there is a small or conflicting body of evidence, which means more research is required and the techniques should not be used routinely.

Nonetheless, clinics in Ireland offer these “extras” as their clients are “desperate” and willing to try anything that might help no matter how expensive.

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Irish family refused entry to NZ due to daughter with Downs

A family from Ireland have had to abandon a move to New Zealand as their youngest daughter was denied a visa because she had Down’s Syndrome.

Bumikka Suhinthan, 15, was told she couldn’t enter the country because her ‘health was not of an acceptable standard’ and would impose excessive costs. Her mother, Nilani Suhinthan, 52, was headhunted for a £74,000-a-year IT consultant job in Auckland, New Zealand. She, her husband Nagarajah, 54, and other daughters Tanya, 19, and Saumia, 14, all received visas but Bumikka’s rejection has put an end to the planned move.

Despite the family offering to pay for the extra support their daughter would need in school, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) ruled Bumikka would be too great a burden. The mother and her husband Nagarajah, an engineer, have spent three months appealing the rejection, but a hearing last week ruled the decision was final. Nilani, who lives in Dublin, said: “It’s complete discrimination. I’ve always told her she isn’t any different but this tears it up. She doesn’t completely understand why we’re not going to New Zealand.”

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