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COMMENTS BY DANNY HEALY-Rae TD made in the Dáil last night have been labelled as “vile” by campaigners who help parents in cases of fatal foetal abnormality.
The Independent TD was speaking late last night as the Dáil debated the bill that would pave the way for a summer referendum on the Eighth Amendment.
As part of his contribution, Healy-Rae criticised Health Minister Simon Harris for what he said were “terrible” comments.
Harris is proposing the referendum that, if passed, would remove the constitutional right to life of the unborn.
“Minister Harris, I was listening to the radio one evening recently and you came out on the radio and you said that it was terrible to think that a mother was coming from abroad with their young one in the boot of the car,” Healy-Rae said.
I don’t know what you meant by it minister, but I surely know that the baby, the little dead baby, didn’t feel very loved. And it didn’t make a difference that the baby was in the boot of the car in London, or the north of Ireland or the south of Ireland. The unborn baby was dead at that stage anyway. So I was very hurt when I heard you saying something like that.
In responding to Healy Rae’s comments, Harris said that he was sorry if he “offended or upset” the deputy but that he had been referring to the story of a couple he met who were told their unborn baby would not survive.
“I was telling the story of a couple who I met and had sat with them, who had desperately wanted a child, had desperately wanted a child. And had been told that they were pregnant, and were so overjoyed to be pregnant and were told that their baby would not live.”
They did not want to ‘kill their baby or take their baby’s life’, or any of those crude or vulgar terms. They wanted that baby so badly, and the baby wasn’t going to live.
People were coming up to that pregnant mother saying, ‘is it a boy or is it a girl’. And they knew that baby wasn’t going to live. It was either going to die in the woman’s womb or soon afterwards.
“They had to go to the UK, that was the decision they made, and they had to bring their baby back from the UK in the boot of a car in the coffin,” Harris added.
Following the comments in the Dáil, advocacy group Terminations for Medical Reasons Ireland criticised Healy-Rae said that such examples as outlined by the minister are common.
“Tonight while Danny Healy-Rae was making his vile comments in the Dail chamber about us, we were trying to offer comfort to a very distressed woman given the worst possible news; her baby will die,” the group tweeted.
TFMR Ireland went on to detail that the woman was told after her 12 week scan that the baby would not survive and that she feared she would have to continue with her pregnancy due to an inability to afford the cost of a termination in the UK.
Ultimately, TFMR Ireland said that the woman received support from the UK-based Abortion Support Network.
The debate on referendum bill itself was completed after midnight last night it could be voted on today before it passes to committee stage.
Maybe stop worrying about their human rights and ban visits and block phone signals,add 5 years for every time a phone is found in thier cells
Death squads, we need death squads.
How much would that additional sentence cost the tax payer Ciaran and over crowd the prisons so that people with many convictions for minor crimes would continue to walk from court with a slap on the wrist as there’s no space for them in prison
There is technology to ban mobile phone signals and they should visiting from those with criminal convictions. I’d imagine that would hamper gangs massively
Wasn’t that tech to block mobile signals supposed to have been rolled out 2 years ago or is it my imagination? No doubt claimed as another ‘achievement’ in government by the coalition, that actually never happened!
Actually touted last year
Just like the US only over here the gangs don’t ever do hard time
Regulate the drugs market and they will feel it in the pocket.
For Jasus sake will you go away out of that with your auld common sense.
Solitary or wings/areas just for members of infidelity gangs. This would provide security for weaker prisoners, prevent gang members attacking one another (and remember when that happens prison officers have to go in) there is a very good chance that gang members would attack their own members which isn’t a bad thing either. Finally keep them banged up in cells and only allow out for one hour a day, food brought to cells and eaten in their if it’s gone cold by time trolly gets to them tough. Slightest infringement of prison regs loss of privileges eg no TV or radio, no sweets, chocolate, cigs, tobacco, tea, coffee except when served at mealtimes. Solitary exercise. In short incentive s to behave
Exactly this isn’t new news, Most on phones and these guys are safer in jail. Building up a fortune to hit the sun when they get out.
If you are in jail for crimes that infringe on the human rights of others then part of the punishment should be an infringement of your own rights. I don’t mean torture or anything extreme but as it stands you can’t breath on these criminals without fear of violating their rights.
Build prisons in the arse of nowhere, should stop drugs and phones getting in
Reopen Spike Island.
Tell us something new!
I think those gangs in jail watched the movie goodfellas to many times
And this is news? The dogs on the street are even aware of this and only short of building a proper and purpose built prison will it end, patching up Victorian institutions is pointless.
Reap what you sow. Years of appeasement and a policy of keeping them happy to avoid trouble. This country is too soft.
Solitary or wings/areas just for members of infidelity gangs. This would provide security for weaker prisoners, prevent gang members attacking one another (and remember when that happens prison officers have to go in) there is a very good chance that gang members would attack their own members which isn’t a bad thing either. Finally keep them banged up in cells and only allow out for one hour a day, food brought to cells and eaten in their if it’s gone cold by time trolly gets to them tough. Slightest infringement of prison regs loss of privileges eg no TV or radio, no sweets, chocolate, cigs, tobacco, tea, coffee except when served at mealtimes. Solitary exercise. In short incentive s to behave
The problem here is Prison staff are afraid of the prisoners instead of the other way around so they close their eyes to a lot of the activities. When a prisoner leaves Jail he should be so terrified of the place that he will never reoffend but it’s like a holiday home for these guys .The wardens need to be retrained for the job and if they can’t hack it send them packing .
Donal. On the contrary the vast majority of Prison Officers have no fear of inmates. It is the way the system is currently designed that is the problem. Officers can only do so much where the system is out of balance in favour of the inmate. It suits nobody if the system is out of balance in either direction. What has been lost over the decades is that one is sent to Prison as punishment and as such the loss of many rights and privileges enjoyed by those on the outside would have been standard. The Prison System itself is not solely at fault for this but the entire Judcial system. A prime example of this is the Prisoner Complaints system. An inmate can make a complaint of serious misconduct against any Officer without fear of any meaningful punishment if that complaint is found to be false and malicious. Another (which may seem small and insignificant to many) is the inmates right to wear there own clothes. For inmates this is huge. For them wearing the latest designer fashions is a way for them to show off to one another and provide them with a sense of individuality. Decades ago Prison Uniform was standard for all inmates irregardless of their status. Every inmate had the same stuff in their cell in the same quantity and quality as everyone else. Today that has all changed. In the drive towards inmates welfare and rights, discipline, order and conformity has been left sorely lagging behind. So for the system to work effectively that balance needs to returned.
Mick you hit the nail on the head thank you for your comment that makes more sense ,the balance seems to be with the criminal. The prison uniform should be highlighted more but of course the government will have to spend money and we know that won’t happen.
As a quote from The Wire states,
“If you can’t win the war against drugs in a prison, what chance do you have of doing it on the streets. ”
Slightly unrelated but it still speaks volumes.
Lots of space in The Curragh
Time to start contemplating privitizing the prisons. More spaces would lead to more time being served. Then sort out the crap sentences.
Unknown. Private Prisons have proved to be an utter disaster for staff, inmates and taxpayers where they have been tried. Ever wonder why the majority of countries in the world don’t use them?
There’s a man that votes fine gael, up enda
Explains their mobiles so? lol.
have your say