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HEALTH MINISTER LEO Varadkar has apologised for any offence caused by a remark he made during a Dáil debate on abortion last December.
Pro-life group Every Life Counts were unhappy that Varadkar said the current law causes parents of unborn children with life-limiting conditions have “to explain for weeks and months to all enquirers that their baby is dead”.
The group, which represents parents who have lost their babies to conditions such as anencephaly and Trisomy 13, wrote to Varadkar to tell him his statement was factually incorrect.
Every Life Counts spokeswoman Tracy Harkin said the comment caused parents “hurt and offence”, adding that their babies “were alive and kicking in the womb, however severe their disability”.
A spokesperson said Varadkar has written to the group to apologise for any offence caused but said the minister stands over the remarks.
He made them while discussing the chilling effect the eighth amendment has on doctors.
During that debate the minister made a grammatical error and should have referred to a foetus which ‘will not be born alive’ rather than one which was ‘dead’. He was happy to clarify that in correspondence and has sought to clarify that matter in subsequent Dáil debates. But he holds firmly to the opinions expressed during that debate.
“It’s also worth pointing out that on the same evening in the Dail, he called for a ‘calm and measured debate, an exchange of views about what is right and wrong for women, the unborn, families and society’,” the spokesperson added.
Grace Sharp, a mother who lost her daughter, said her baby’s life was “may have been short,” but it was important nonetheless.
“Our babies were not ‘dead’ in the womb. They were very sick, and some of them had only short lives, but they were alive and kicking and we loved them in the way that every parent loves their baby, with all our hearts,” Sharp said.
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why all the fuss leave them up there
@PW: I think that’s what they did, removed at 8am, just in time for breakfast
@PW: gotta make way for Santa’s sleigh
Should spray them with water and leave them over night. Wouldn’t need any so called special trained staff to get them down then.
@Seán Dillon: that’s my brother your talking about
@Seán Dillon: i second that.
@Martin Scaldbag: and what
@Martin Scaldbag: Nobody cares
@Seán Dillon: Or just put some thought into designing prison roofs so it’s not possible to stay up there. I.e., steep roofs, roof access only possible with scaffolding or cherry-pickers, no parapet to stop you sliding off, etc.
@Conall: yeah good idea, unfortunately most of these prisons are old and retain the old structures for imprisonment.
@Seán Dillon: unfortunately its now considered inhumane to use water on prisoners, load of nonsense i know…
As a member of the EU we should lobby to be able to transfer Prisoners on disciplinary to other Prisons throughout the EU. So the likes of those convicts that assault staff, or as in this case endanger staff having to get them down, could be shipped off to a Romanian, Bulgarian or Baltic States Prison etc for a few months. A form of Shenigan treaty for Prisons. You could bet they would sing a different time when they returned.
@Mick.: would you not have Romanian and Bulgarian prisoners constantly acting up so they could stay at mountjoy hilton
@Darren Byrne: There are much easier Prisons to choose from in Scandinavia. But those States I mentioned know how to deal with their own disruptive convicts far more effectively than we do. The “Touchy Feely Bleeding Hearts” have very little input into their Prison Systems.
@Mick.: welcome back
Someone should have told them the magic sleigh is coming tonight to fly them away
@Kieran Monaghan: doesn’t take very much imagination to think up of a few ways to get them down quickly! And the specialist’s wouldn’t be needed either!
Specially trained negotiators? I hope the conversation was brief ‘ get the f… down or f…ing freeze.
They were prob just fixing their sky dish (that is mugs are paying for)
Get their mammies to come tell em get down like they did in Spike Island way back or just leave em dere.
Shame they were “Safely” removed….
Why the Carolina flack comments closed
@Karllye kripton: cause she beat 7 shades of shite out of her boyfriend and now she’s being prosecuted for it.
@Adrian™: that’s what he was into‘allegedly’
@Adrian™: I’ll bet if the shoe was on the other foot the media would have a field day with it
( doesn’t matter what foot it’s on for the record it’s wrong,, but I can’t stand double standards)
I would have used a sniper!
ah come on , they were looking for a chimney to come down tomorrow morning.
Another joke of a government department
Government can’t even secure our prisons….it’s a joke
And it’s up like a bird and it’s over the city, 3 men are missing I heard a warder cry………..
Does Santa have a key for Solitary to deliver present…..
Smarter than I thought. Waited for the weather warnings to clear.
Because there’s criminal proceedings and the journal respects the right to a fair trial
They should have shot them, then they would fall from the roof and hey presto problem solved and as an added bonus more prison spaces would be freed up
I’m all for leaving them up there. Or knocking them off with plastic bullet
Send up a Drone with a few pints, tell them it’s on the slate:
Protest over them having to make Xmas cards for next year .
Waiting for the drone with the xmas parcel. I’d say they’ll be a happy lot over the festive season
Punters Pal..explain?
have your say