The View Although the battle to save the Eighth Amendment was lost, there is still work to do which could result in the saving of many babies’ lives. As I write this article, the draft legislation which will decriminalise abortion in some circumstances has not yet been published. When it is published, there will have…
The View As the dust settles on the repeal of the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, I watched the joy, the rapture, the excitement, the delight of those who voted ‘Yes’ in the referendum with disbelief. They argue that what they were celebrating was the recognition of a woman’s right to choose what…
The View On May 25, the people of Ireland will be able to vote on whether the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution should be repealed. That amendment reads: ”The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in…
The View The view that an unborn child has the right to life is a view which is shared by millions across the world. You would not think so, listening to some of the media in Ireland at the moment. As long ago as 1924, the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child…
The View As I have listened and watched the arguments for abortion in Ireland, north and south, I have been moved to wonder about all the women who have been unable to conceive a child, or whose babies died in the womb before they were born, and about those whose children were stillborn. How…
The View There are a lot of questions about the forthcoming abortion referendum and the country’s response to it. Perhaps the first question is: does everyone know what the Eighth Amendment actually says? An important question, when the people are about to vote about whether it stays or it goes. It’s not just about…
The View When someone you love dies suddenly, it is a terrible moment, often of disbelief because the person who went out to work or to school, or the little child who went out to play is never coming back. All your realities are shattered, things can never be the same again. Gradually there…
Last week the Irish Catholic reported on the challenge by the former Abbot of Glenstal, Dom Mark Patrick Hedermann, to the negativity of the ACP. It also said that the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, was reported in the New York Times to have said that, “I could spend all my time being concerned…
The View I recently spent a morning with religious education teachers and diocesan workers from the Diocese of Derry talking about the teaching of relationship and sex education. I met a wonderful group of lively, compassionate, caring, interested and dedicated young people. The following day in Galway, I met priests, brothers and sisters who belong to religious…
A few months back, Belfast City Council debated an apparently innocuous motion, that “this Council recognises that all individuals have the right to healthcare, which includes that healthcare should be physically accessible and within safe reach for all sections of the population. People should not face fear and intimidation when accessing healthcare services. “Therefore, the…