Family-run Ashers Baking Company should not be forced to promote a cause which its owners profoundly disagree with, a columnist says. Writing in the Belfast Telegraph, Fionola Meredith said Ashers’ situation was “not a case of anti-gay discrimination” because the row is over a message – not an individual. Meredith explained that she supports same-sex marriage but disagrees with earlier court rulings against the Christian bakers viewing it as an issue of compelled speech rather than gay rights. “No company should be under any obligation to facilitate the dissemination of beliefs that are antithetical to the ethos of that business. . . . The message itself – not the customer requesting it – has always been the issue for Ashers.”
The columnist described the long-running legal case brought by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland as “costly, vexatious and divisive”. She said it was not equality to force everyone to “disseminate political beliefs that they fundamentally disagree with”.
“It is not tolerance. It is not freedom. If Ashers lose this week, we all lose”.
The Anglican communion is sharply divided over plans by The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the US to change its marriage service to a gay-friendly version which would remove “husband and wife” and “procreation” from the marriage service.
The new service removes the phrase “the union of husband and wife” and replaces it with “the union of two people”, and replaces the section which talks about part of God’s intention for marriage being “for the procreation of children” with the phrase “for the gift of children” to make it more relevant for same-sex couples who may wish to adopt. Couples can still use the individual words “husband” or “wife” when making their vows, though the gender-neutral “spouse” is also an option.
The move was criticised in a letter from the Church of England’s Secretary General William Nye which threatened to cut ties with the US church, if it introduces the new service as standard, replacing the current wording in its Book of Common Prayer. Mr Nye urged the church to consider keeping the new service on “trial status” indefinitely to avoid “irrevocably redefining marriage”, adding that the new rites “constitute a clear divergence from the understanding of marriage held throughout the history of the Christian Church”.
The Save the 8th campaign on Thursday morning unveiled a position paper outlining how the Government’s abortion bill introduces abortion for healthy babies at six months. The general scheme of the Govt’s proposed legislation states that it shall be lawful to carry out a termination of a pregnancy where there is risk of serious harm to the health of the pregnant woman. John McGuirk, communications director for the Save the 8th campaign, said 97 per cent of all abortions in the UK happen on mental health grounds. Niamh Uí Bhriain, chairwoman of Save the 8th, said “We’re going to make sure voters know that this is abortion on mental health grounds, the same model as the UK model of abortion right up to six months of a baby’s life. This will result in healthy babies being aborted right up to six months, that’s a very frightening prospect and a huge cultural change in this country”.
A new study shows that Ireland’s personal tax burden for one-income families not only rose in 2017, it recorded the largest increase anywhere, at 2.9 percentage points. In contrast, there were large decreases in Poland (5.1 percentage points) and Luxembourg (one percentage point).The survey also reveals the chasm that has opened up between families with children and single earners without.
Ireland is said to have a “fiscal preference” for families and this is highlighted by the report, published on Thursday. While it is on the rise, one-income families on the average wage and with children give up just 1.2 per cent of their income on tax. That is one of the lowest tax burdens in the OECD. The 1.2 per cent net personal average tax rate for such families with children contrasts with a rate of 19.4 per cent for a single worker on the same wage. This is the third lowest of the 35 countries surveyed, alongside Canada, and behind only the Czech Republic (0.7 per cent) and Poland. The net personal tax rate is after taking into account transfers like Child Benefit.
The Save the 8th campaign has called on Dr Peter Boylan to resign as chairman of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists following comments he made in an interview with Hot Press magazine. In the interview, Dr Boylan is quoted as saying: “Savita Halappanavar died as a result of the Eighth Amendment. Michelle Harte, who was looked after by Professor Louise Kenny, died as a consequence of the Eighth Amendment. Sheila Hodgers died as a consequence of the Eighth Amendment. We have the Miss P Case.” John McGuirk, communications director for the Save the 8th campaign, said the claim that four women had died due to the amendment was false and that more than 3,000 people had signed a petition calling for Dr Boylan to resign over the matter as of Thursday morning.
The age at which children can consent to legal contracts with social media companies like Facebook without the consent of their parents looks set to be raised by three years to 16. Government Ministers had agreed to set the ‘digital age of consent’ at 13 but now face an embarrassing Dáil defeat unless they backtrack. Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the Labour Party have all indicated they now favour raising the age limit to 16.
It comes as the messaging service WhatsApp announced that it has raised the minimum age for users in Europe to 16. The instant messaging app, which is owned by Facebook, said the move was in response to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). GDPR bans the processing of personal information of children under 16 unless parents provide consent. However, individual countries can lower this to 13. Countries like France and germany decided to set it at the maximum age, 16, but the government and children’s rights organisations were intent on it being set at the minimum possible age in Ireland.
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has received Cabinet approval to set the age at 13. This position is backed by groups including the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Children’s Rights Alliance and the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Geoffrey Shannon.
However, the move by opposition parties toward the higher age limit could inflict an embarrassing Dáil defeat on the Government.
The LoveBoth campaign has issued a challenge to Minister for Health, Simon Harris, to publicly defend his proposed draft legislation in a debate with one of their own representatives. At a press conference yesterday, a spokesperson said “Minister Simon Harris has challenged the pro-life movement on how we can justify the status quo and keeping the Eighth Amendment. In return, we challenge Minister Harris to a debate on his proposal and the issue in general, including alternatives to abortion”. They added: “Minister Harris wants to remove the right to life from the Constitution. So our challenge to Minister Harris is: Come out and debate your abortion proposal with a LoveBoth spokesperson. There is nothing radical or progressive about taking away the right to life.”
Love Both claimed the proposed draft legislation will lead to one of the most extreme ‘abortion on demand’ regimes in the world. Campaign spokeswoman Sinéad Slattery told a news conference on Wednesday: “The referendum is about one thing and one thing only – introducing abortion on demand.”
The group were sharply critical of the political process for spending the last six years focussed exclusively on providing abortion, and nothing on providing alternatives to abortion.
