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ABORTION RIGHTS GROUPS and campaigners have criticised Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin after he declined to say whether he supported abortion in cases of rape and incest.
TFMR Ireland called on Martin to “give us honest, complete answers” in relation to his stance on abortion.
The group is made up of parents who received a diagnosis of a fatal or severe foetal anomaly during pregnancy, and campaigns in favour of chaining Ireland’s abortion laws.
Speaking on KFM yesterday, Martin would not say whether he supported abortion in any case. When question specifically whether he agreed with abortion “in cases of incest and rape”, Martin said:
“They’re not that simple in terms of issues but again I will look at all those issues.”
When pushed further on his stance, Martin said:
“Well it’s not that simple… It’s not a simple yes or no that depends on a number of issues.
I know people today who are alive whose mothers – in one particular case – was raped and she was the outcome of that. And she gets very angry when people suggest she should never have had a life.
Responding to Martin’s comments, TFMR Ireland wrote an open letter to him on the group’s Facebook page.
“We are women, we are mothers, we are daughters and we are sisters. We are men, we are husbands, we are partners, we are sons and we are brothers,” the letter begins.
We live in an independent, secular Republic in the European Union in the 21st Century, and quite frankly, we are concerned.
The letter calls on Martin to “provide honest, complete unambiguous answers” to questions on abortion. It then lays out specific examples of cases where an abortion may be sought by a person and asks Martin for his stance.
“You are going to be asked many serious questions and you owe it to all of us to give these questions serious consideration and give us honest, complete answers,” the letter states.
Meanwhile, the Abortion Rights Campaign called the comments by Martin “absolutely shocking”.
The Eighth Amendment
The issue of abortion in Ireland and the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution – which grants to equal right to life to the mother and the unborn child – was recently the focus of the Citizens’ Assembly.
The Assembly last month recommended that the Oireachtas should legislate for abortion and allow abortion without restriction in Ireland.
Voters are expected to be asked whether they support the findings of the Citizen’s Assembly in a referendum, and an Oireachtas committee is now being set up to examine how to proceed.
While most of the political parties have named who will sit on the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, only two members – Kate O’Connell and Catherine Noone – have been confirmed for Fine Gael.
It’s understood that if no one from the party steps forward to sit on the committee, the Taoiseach may resort to appointing TDs and senators to the committee.
Fianna Fáil have named their four TDs for the committee – Billy Kelleher, Lisa Chambers, James Browne and Anne Rabbitte. Senator Ned O’Sullivan is also expected to sit on the committee.
Brid Smith and Ruth Coppinger from Solidarity-PBP will be on the committee on a rotational-basis, while Louise O’Reilly and Jonathan O’Brien will sit on the committee, for Sinn Fein. Catherine Murphy of the Social Democrats will also be on the committee.
Labour’s Jan O’Sullivan, Independent TD Mattie McGrath and Clare Daly will also join the committee. It’s understood other members in the mix include Independent Rónán Mullen and Alice Mary Higgins.
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Hazel Chu says that they’d be great for the homeless as they can’t blag their way into a pub or the likes. Someone inform her why *exactly* the Dublin public toilets were originally closed.
@Daniel Dunne: we are talking about people who want to use the bathroom. Homeless people need to do it just the same as people with homes. And not all homeless people are using drugs in bathrooms and plenty of the people that did had homes. They closed because the council didn’t want to deal with the. Ireland is hardly unique in having people who use drugs or people who need to use the bathroom. We are unique in failing to deal with it.
Who would insure a Public Toilet in Ireland given the madness of our legal liability regime
Pubs resturants should make their toilets freely available to the public. For instance a customer is not likely to wait an hour in the pub after his/her last drink to avail of the pubs free toilet.
We need a business community approach as well as Council contribution to free , safe & clean toilets for all.
In Australia we have both public & business toilets freely available.
No wonder there’s a toilet smell in Dublin’s back lanes!
A country that purports to be first world should have at least clean/safe public toilets.
@Moorooka Mick: no they absolutely should and can not… Anyone, let alone a business, that would open their toilets to the public in Dublin City would be ruined as a result. Aside from the general mess and abuse by the general public, Dublin has a huge drug problem and homelessness is out of control… Desperate people would use a toilet for other reasons, it’s just not at all sensible up suggest anyone could do it and maintain a business.
Dublin City Council should open them, staff them and charge 10c or something… They’d need 24/7 security but we pay enough tax to cover the costs.
@HairyTeeth: Ah… another “We pay enough tax to cover the cost”. We are obviously not paying enough tax.
@HairyTeeth: like we do for water?
@HairyTeeth: agree 100%
What are the sky high council rates being spent on? How difficult is it to providing public toilets it’s not an impossible dream
How many employees do the council have? They couldn’t use existing resources to install and maintain glorified ports cabins around the city? I’d get the project done for less than 50k.
@Sean Fahey: I’d say you would alright
@Sean Fahey: this story is about more revenue for DCC in the form of highly visual advertising. The automatic toilets have multiple sides therefore multiple points to advertise on.
600 grand a year?
They’re taking the piss!
@John Mulligan: More like turd party rather than “Third Party”
Ten years talking shtie
Don’t forget to be inclusive and provide toilets for all communities especially those of the a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y and z persuasion
@FartyTowels: On an article today about Trans people titled ” The most important thing is to talk about it” the comments are closed. It really is bizarre.
These toilets already exist here wexford pop in your 50c door opens close behind you do your business when you exit the toilet is cleaned then daily the company maintains the toilet stocking up with chemicals etc. Mostly supplied and maintained by JC decaux. I think this story is really about more on street advertising as the toilets are highly visible points of advertisement.
@Tom Harpur Photography: Long ago the automatic type came and went on the big smoke. Then we have the long forgotten original public toilets. O’Connell St = Contains the control systems for the Spire. Trinity = Filled in when the Luas was extended. St Stephens Green = Rest room for Luas drivers. Ranelagh = Filled in when road widened. Etc etc. Don’t forget all the other parks public toilets, which had to be closed…
Berlin has well run public toilets they are spotless and very well run, 50cent per use and the shocker is that they have like every major city a lot of homeless people, blaming drug addicts and homeless for not having proper services for the public is a lame excuse and local authorities just do not want to spend money on this, plenty of cctv and a crackdown in fraudulent insurance claims should sort out any perception that we can’t have nice amenities
3rd party? Who’s the 2nd party? Do they mean the public? So they’re not actually asking the public to provide their own
Cost you more to tap than 50c lol!
The Romans didn’t invade Ireland/Hibernia. That’s why we have so many crooked boreens, and Dublin City Council is only mildly interested in public hygiene. The Vikings invaded a place called Dubh Linn. That’s why the streets are scruffy and the Liffey often smells like a cesspool. Dublin councillors should blame the Roman failure to invade us for the lack of public bath houses and conveniences.
How do you know where the back of a tree is ? Easy
Why does everything cost a fortune when the word ‘Council’ is mentioned
Pathetic reticence
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