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THE FINE GAEL TD behind this afternoon’s controversial remarks that fornication is a leading cause of unwanted pregnancy has defended her remarks, saying: “It’s not a word I invented.”
Mayo deputy Michelle Mulherin’s Dáil remarks – that fornication was “probably the single most likely cause of unwanted pregnancies in this country” – caught the attention of many during today’s debates on legislation which would have permitted abortion under certain circumstances.
“The word fornication basically refers to consensual sex between adults outside of marriage,” Mulherin told Today FM’s Last Word with Matt Cooper, before explaining that she had sought to introduce a religious aspect to the discussion to try and broaden the debate.
“We need to have debates to move things along, or to effect change, or to arrive at a point where we can be comfortable in a society in relation to things that we legislate upon which have a moral element to them,” she said.
We look to the issue of abortion and in most cases – now, I don’t have statistics because there aren’t statistics, and we know approximately that 4,500 women feel they need to go to the UK to have abortions – but assuming in a lot of cases, and just I suppose from anecdotal stories and so on, evidence… we know people are having casual sex and that therefore pregnancies arise that weren’t planned and that aren’t wanted.
…We need as individuals to have a discussion around who in this day and age is having unprotected sex, with AIDS, with sexually transmitted diseases – in fact, in those sorts of scenarios, pregnancy is a welcome outcome compared to all that can happen to an individual.
Mulherin said the wellbeing of women, and “taking responsibility in these areas”, was “an elephant in the room”.
“What I have to say, is in the context of a bigger debate that needs to be happening. That was only an element of what I said.”
She went on:
Take religion out of it, okay? Is there a point at which, from the point of view of practical living, the mental health and wellbeing of people, that the ought not practice safe sex? That perhaps in some instances people should be abstaining from casual sexual intercourse?
Forget about the word: this is about opening a debate about modern responsible living in Ireland, us being responsible people for ourselves.
The first-term Fine Gael TD said it appeared that the current opinion of Irish society on topics like abortion was the result of having had morality “shoved down our throats” for a considerable period.
“The flip [side] to getting rid of religiosity isn’t promiscuity, but an awful lot of people’s attitudes to sexuality are actually very primitive, and basic, and very in the shadows,” she said.
So if people are being driven in a certain direction, and you say, towards sexual intercourse, towards pleasure, towards whatever it is… is there something darker here? Is there something harmful that is happening to some people here, because they’re not practising safe sex, because they’re not abstaining? Perhaps, in some instances, people are having sex too young?
Why can’t we talk about that, and why does it have to sound nerdy, or particularly religious?
Mulherin added that she did not believe she was required to “jettison everything that I believe in” after being elected to the Dáil. “I’m not schizophrenic,” she said. “We are holistic beings, and that includes taking in that aspect of ourselves.”
Mulherin was the fourth Fine Gael TD to be elected from the five-seater Mayo constituency in last year’s general election.
The abortion legislation was defeated in the Dáil by 111 votes to 20.
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“So if people are being driven in a certain direction, and you say, towards sexual intercourse, towards pleasure, towards whatever it is… is there something darker here?”
I’m going to go out on a limb here and blame Satan.
Just couldnt’t be bothered to concoct a lengthy a reply.
And yes Michelle.
You indeed did not invent the term “fornication”.
This would be beyond your ability.
They could take tax OFF condoms for a start. They could even make them freely available. I guess that would be too simple (and sinful) a solution to reduce unwanted pregnancies.
Religion? Ah no not at all…. she just wanted to ” introduce a religious aspect to the discussion to try and broaden the debate ,” The woman is a sad case. Highly maddening , and quite funny .I will watch the Oireachtas report later too.
I suppose you could record the look at who’s having unprotected sex and then put it up on a pay-per-view site and try to carve out a chunk of the several-billion-a-year porn industry for the troika. That’d be a way to do the fornication tax :D
We need to have a debate on the seperation of Church and state. Anyone who cant hold a debate on the Dail, without bringing their religous views into it, should be sacked immediately (and no pension). The Church does not control us anymore you facist and twisted freak.
Surely the electorate collectively should decide what they want a TD to stand for, rather than Cal Mooney? Some voters want their TD’s to have espouse religious values. Other voters are willing to overlook corruption (Lowry/Flynn etc). Others want dealmakers who will deliver for their local area (Healy-Rae, McGrath). None of these things are necessarily right in your book, but that’s democracy.
Doesn’t mean you have to agree with them, but banning people from Parliament because they are religious ironically sounds more fascist than anything she has said.
Ryan, The Church corrupted our state since its foundation. Ask the abused kids that have suffered as a result of their evil and corruption. For a TD to stand up and espouse Church teachings and to suggest that sex outside of marriage is a “SIN” is the most sickening and horribly hypocritical slap in the face to all of us non-conformist citizens in this country. Has she heard anything about love thy neighbour (no pun intended) or the fact that its harder for a rich person to go to heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. If she decided to give up her exorbitant salary to charity, and donned the sack cloth, i might take her seriously. But her and all the FFg/Labour Politicians are sitting in their ivory towers tut-tutting at the ordinary people in the country. They refuse to take the average industrial wage, instead stealing (and it is stealing or financial terrorism) to take the salaries they are taking, and then at the same time telling the people they are morally corrupt to have sex outside of marriage. I think she should be sacked immediately.
@Ryan, there is a difference between saying that TD’s shouldn’t bring their religious views into politics and saying that they should be banned because they are religious. If a TD was Muslim it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest, but if s/he argued to ban pork products because it is forbidden in the Koran, I’d be pretty pissed.
Strange how closed minded liberal people are. Sounds like she was suggesting that people need to take more responsibility for their actions. Surely that kind of intelligent talk can’t be allowed in the Dail. She just has to be silenced. Such heresy. Not even the priests of Rome would dare to say such things, never mind a young Colleen from Mayo.
Well said Frank, its a pity she mentioned religion and used the word “fornication” but otherwise everything said was reasonable and made sense. There is a big question out there as to why, when there is a much greater availability of contraception options, a significant proportion of the population are so unwilling to make use of what was hard fought for.
Folks, she may have a point about personal responsibility – but is that really something for a government to be interfering with? I’d prefer they concerned themselves with things that take place outside our bedrooms?
In a secular Republic, should not a T.D.’s religious belief stay outside the Dail when debating such matters as this. That’s not to say she can’t hold certain religious beliefs as a private citizen…
Surely there’s more to sex than religion. Just because we are rightly becoming less Papal Rome, doesn’t mean that we turn to the darker days of the Romans. Unprotected sex leads to kids and in some cases to nasty STDs. Get over it.
The fact that she said that she introduced religion to the debate ‘to widen’ the debate goes to show that she has a very warped view of the world because by adding religion to it, surely she is narrowing the view… what an idiot!
@Mark – Just for the sake of propriety, I should mention that Mulherin didn’t have the highest expenses of any TD. She was among the highest claimants, at ⬠51,179.23, but that’s because expenses are calculated based on how far away you live from Leinster House, and also because TDs who vouch for their expenses (as Mulherin does) get a slightly higher allowance.
Gavan, sorry for taking things off topic, but is there any guide available on how to add links to text like you have done above, and also for adding emoticons, etc?
@mart_n – Sure – the way to insert links is to use basic HTML. Rather than try to explain it over a comment, I’ll send you to this tutorial which should guide you through it.
Is her comment even worth any kind of logical debate , Is this really what the tax payers money pays for ? My 14 year old would come up with a more productive objection or argument than this woman who is assumed to be intelligent ?
She is so tragically missing the point in the whole thing. She’s absolutely right about unprotected sex and the high numbers still practising it, but that should be a completely separate discussion than the one surrounding the rights of women to have abortions in limited circumstances.
Compartmentalisation and dogmatism don’t really work well together.
Whatever about fornication she’s right about one thing, people shouldn’t be having random unprotected sex outside a relationship. There are some really nasty STIs out there, and they’re on the rise, so unless you fancy playing drunken Russian roulette with something like drug-resistant syphilis, saddle up, seriously.
Of course we should promote safe sex, but abortion as outlined in this bill wasn’t designed as a contraceptive.
It’s only for use when either the mother or child is at risk of death (which can occur in any incidence of pregnancy, not just cases of unprotected sex), as consequence of rape, incest etc., NOT as an alternative to wearing a condom!
Okay. So she wants to debate unprotected sex and all that malarky. Fine. Off with her. What in the name of Zod has that got to do with the Bill she voted against? It had nothing to do with people getting abortions willy nilly. It was for medical terminations in cases of pregnancy that could not be carried full term or threatened the life of the mother. You have the sorry state of affairs where mothers whose children are dead in the womb having to go to England for this procedure. In most instances, the cremated remains of the child will be sent by courier back to the mother several days later.Lovely way to treat Iriish women isnt it? And then of course you have the mothers who cant afford to travel and have to carry a dead child full term. The state is failing these women miserably and we have deluded women like this harping on in the Dail about something she obviously has no knowledge about, just following her religious bent. Now reread her little rant and think of your own sister/wife/lover in one of the aforementioned scenarios.
Well said Darren. The same TD proposed also that all unemployed young men should be forced to do Army service for a year …. later on in the year she voted to close Army barracks. You really couldn’t make this stuff up!
I had three babies who died in utero. I didn’t have to travel to England to be given medication to induce labour. I was treated with kindness and dignity here in Ireland and was helped in every way possible.
Actually, Maria is right and we shouldn’t confuse matters by talking about late miscarriages/stillbirths, sad though they are – these cases don’t involve babies who have died in utero, these are babies that are *going* to die, either in utero or just after birth. That have no hope whatsoever of surviving outside the womb because they’re missing some of the vital bits that we need for living (brains, major organs,…). Basically, they’re the equivalent of some poor fecker who’s been in a car crash, suffered fatal head injuries, but is still “alive” on a ventilator until they switch the machine off. Except the life support in this case is another human being.
I know some families choose to let the pregnancy go to term when they discover such conditions, but I know many others would prefer to be able to say goodbye and grieve straightaway.
People with schizophrenia ARE whole people, capable of having full, productive and meaningful lives. Her understanding of mental health seems to be mired in the 50′s with her language.
Am guessing that’s a typo, and should read “safe sex” rather than “same sex” in the last block quote? Cause you know, it lends a whole other meaning to what she’d rather people did …..
This drives me insane. I really do wonder whether we are just a weak people who enjoy being told what to do and talked down to by absolute idiots. There would be riots on the street in Paris if a politician spoke like this. The rational thing to discuss would be education around contraception. And yet we have an idiot giving our opinions on morals. Jesus wept. He fuppin wept at this sort of muck.
The country is bankrupt and this idiot is not helping taking the highest expenses and high pensions etc to talk rubbish. The values she perches have us in the mess we are in. No abortion – let somebody else deal with it. Thankfully the BRITISH are more compassionate.
No, you’re actually still in 2012! and yes, the story is unfortunately true and yes, she was voted into Government and is paid a huge salary to make idiotic statements like this. Oh ya, she’ll get a great pension too!
I think it’s a disgrace that her “broadening” of the conversation overshadowed the actual issue here, if there is a serious threat to the mothers health why oh why is it against the law to terminate, I know there would have to be specific definitions in place but I genuinely think it’s a disgrace for our government to turn their back on this. I am utterly against nominal abortion but WTF?! If a woman’s physical or mental health is in serious danger then what – let them die or let another country look after it. Keep Vatholic Ireland happy – look what a great job they’ve done in the last 50 years. ( I knows it’s some not all but they need a revamp too!!) Rant over.
I cannot beleive that we have the likes of this lunatic in the dail. I feel so sorry for the people of Mayo if all they have to represent them is this idiot and that gombeen Enda. We must be a worldwide laughing stock by now.
Is she wrong in what she says? Is it not the duty of more people to take responsibility for their own actions and choices and have a mature discussion about sex and the responsibility that goes with it. Just because she mentions abstinence we shouldn’t all jump down her throat and brand her as some religious zealot.
It’s not laudable when condensed into the larger world view of the person espousing it. That’s an idealism, not a form of pragmatism.
If she wants to be seen as being pragmatically minded in all of then she needs to rethink her own reasons for arriving at her conclusion, and not rely on any ‘God Words’ to justify it.
Coming across like very well-reasoned comments. Whilst using such langauge as ‘fornication’, referring to certain people as weak, and bringing religion into things was remarkably and scarily out of touch with what preys on most of our minds, she’s actually got a good point. It has be a fact that engaging in casual and pre-marital sex is risky due to presumably unwanted pregnancies and STDs and all other things. This isn’t about judging those who do but broadening the debate to help people make better decisions in life. It also, I am sure, is not about judging those who are in long-term, committed non-marital relationships. Alot of the literature online these days relating to women and sex portray sex as something trivial like going shopping or going to the cinema, they say “it’s just sex” and women should be allowed to do whatever they want, but they’re just damaging themselves if they say and believe that. Women should be allowed to do whatever they want but it’s not ‘just’ something, it an extremely intimate phyiscal act that can have disastrous consequences. I think women Libbers sometimes forget what they’re fighting for. All that said, none of that relates to abortion or has consequence upon it. In my view, women should always have the right to make decisions about their life and their body. Also, note that it appears Mulherin is in agreement with making abortion available. I’m sure none of that makes sense and I’ll get a zillion red thumbs but I’ll take my chances.
I suppose what I mean by damaging, is that engaging in casual sex and generally following an attitude that “women should be allowed to do what they want without actually thinking of the pros and cons of the subject of their want” can have damaging effects such as pregnancies, low-self-esteem, STDs, etc. Of course, sex is not damaging and I am not engaging in judgments on others, rather thinking perhaps more thought should be go into things in this area.
@Ronan. I am assuming NicDaibheid means in relation to STD’s etc if not practicing safe sex. Honestly who cares who is having sex with who once they don’t expect others to pick up the tab and having safe sex. I think there is merit in looking at the cost of lone parents payments etc as their are genuine cases who need support and then their is cases which are de-frauding the tax payer
@RonanKennedy I suppose I referred to women as they are the ones who directly have to face abortion which was the starting point for the article. My comments on women equally apply to men.
The last line of your comment sums up exactly what I’ve been saying. It’s so difficult in these areas to express subtleties in viewpoints. Just like there’s a tendency to label someone as politically left or right, there’s a tendency to label people’s opinons in relation to sexual matters as either judgmental and didactic or wholly liberal. I just think it’s quite enlightening to hear Mulherin’s comments as so much of the media and general online writings appear to not entertain anything other than the “have sex as much as you want with as many partners as you want, sure it’s all a bit of a laugh” school of thought.
Although, the question as to whether it’s appropriate for an elected TD to be commenting on these areas is certainly up for debate.
You can get pregnant from sex? This changes everything. This woman is one stupid bloody fool, backward little backbencher who got in on Enda Kenny’s coattails trying to make a name for herself with some half baked nonsense that Mary Whitehouse would be ashamed of. She needs to go back to teaching kids and leave the business of politics to people with at least half a brain.
I suppose “Horseing it in all bareback like” wouldn’t have been app. for Leinster Hse. People certainly do need to be careful about their sexual health. Carry protection at all times. Please God ya might even get to use it before it the expiry date is up.
God will punish you in the afterlife for using prophylactics, he doesn’t mind though if you get any of the following
HIV
Herpes
Gonorrhea
Syphilis
Chlamydia
Genital Warts
The Pope has informed me that there can be no ifs or buts about it. He told me also that if you have children out of wedlock that they go straight to hell, so……..NO FORNICATION
I think a lot of parents of teenagers might view sex as more than a pleasant hobby among consenting friends. Are people overlooking the emotional and psychological aspects as well as the physical dangers. As for drunk kids and condoms- not a great mix. If that’s all that was protecting my son or daughter from an STD or AIDS, I’d be very fearful indeed. Not too into this TD’s wording, but this is a topic worthy of some debate.
This Mulherrin clown is another career politician in the same ” never done anything, never been anywhere” vein as that intellectual powerhouse Mary Coughlan
“assuming in a lot of cases, and just I suppose from anecdotal stories and so on, evidence… we know people are having casual sex and that therefore pregnancies arise that weren’t planned and that aren’t wanted.
…We need as individuals to have a discussion around who in this day and age is having unprotected sex, with AIDS, with sexually transmitted diseases – ”
Is this woman for real? in one sentence she says “assuming” on the same sentence she uses “evidence” that it’s ONLY people having casual sex and unmarried that are having unwanted pregnancies!!!! People can get pregnant when using a condom and taking the pill! Be they married or unmarried! She reminds me of the fools that used to do the ‘pre-marriage courses’ which unfortunately, many of us had to do! She hasn’t a f . . king clue! I am understanding her as saying she wants ONLY married people to have sex! and …. only to have sex at the “safe” time of the month!
Many, many adults are in relationships for years. Is she telling them never to have sex, only to touch each other and kiss? This fool doesn’t understand what love is…. sex is part of that love between two people, hetrosexuals, homosexuals, lesbians etc. Marriage was invented by her church and others. How dare she disrespect 1,000′s of couples who choose not to marry and also that have wonderful, beautiful, happy children. I really don’t understand how these people get the votes and the salary that we are paying them. She’s an idiot and should resign or at least apologize to all those people.
Unprotected sex shouldn’t just be about unwanted babies and sex before marriage (come on, why does everything in this country need to be related to religion?), it should be about the spreading of unwanted and sometimes fatal diseases that effect all people, not just the straight folk!
A baby will upset the lives of 2 people but won’t essentially cause untold hardship and unhappiness, but HIV and AIDS can effect many people (if it’s spread by one person to many partners) and can cause massive destruction to families and lives!
So if this stupid and boring woman is going to hark on about unprotected sex at least get the argument right!
But I think pregnancy is still the bigger issue. Not only could an unwanted pregnancy ruin a woman’s chances in life, but having a child outside of marriage due to carelessness is selfish. The birth of a child to two married parents will always be the ideal.
“…We need as individuals to have a discussion around who in this day and age is having unprotected sex, with AIDS, with sexually transmitted diseases – in fact, in those sorts of scenarios, pregnancy is a welcome outcome compared to all that can happen to an individual.”
Abbey so what if your in a loving long term relationship when your NOT married just because you see it as an outdated piece of paper ?
Also many women over 40 who are married are a growing group that are using the services in England
A bit of a motor-mouth considering she’s representing a constituency from the 19th century, isn’t she?
This is the rhetorical equivalent of shooting the leaders of the uprising. She’s just lit the fuse. A sin, indeed.
Mayo is far from a 19th century constituency. However this deluded, out of touch woman is a disgrace to my home county. Her true constituency lies somewhere in outer space.
there is no excuse for girls and fellas not been careful when their having sex. in all fairness why should I have to be paying for lone parents. I know most are not in that position by choice and they would rather have a job and so on. but lets be honest there is shit loads of girls claiming lone parents while the fella lives with them and he works bed she’s claiming for everything she can get. I can’t claim for anything and am paying more tax each fecking month. I can’t before to go away to have certain things that I should be able to because I work and I chose not to have kids. but these youngones manage to go out every weekend go away every year . and there meant to be on lone parents.
I’m not saying that your relationship isn’t real because you’re not married. I’m just making the point that having single parents can make things difficult. Marriage is the best way of ensuring that a child has two parent figures in his or her life and every child deserves two parents.
But I don’t believe that most unwanted pregnancies arise out of long-term relationships. I think that women in Ireland – not teenagers, it’s mostly women in their 20s and 30s – need to cop on when it comes to contraception. Contraception is more widely available now than ever and while it isn’t 100% effective, it’s clear that Irish women aren’t being responsible about it.
Such heresy to pseudo liberal ears. Alas the righteous folk on the journal will not respect your words of wisdom. They’ll go on in their carefree ways and foolishly trust in sparse legal protection until the happy days end.
Where do the blueshirts get them from? I assume she was at the meeting over the Vatican embassy with the rosary beads. Considering the large numbers of people traumatised due to control by the church of government policy in the past, you would think politicians would’ve grasped by now the need to keep church and state totally separate. What two(or more) consenting adults choose to do in private is no business of her or the government, tho Phil Hogan would probably bring in a sex tax if he thought he could get away with it.
Was she drunk when she lost control of herself? Maybe she got carried away. She sounds like she was interviewed after an orgasim. No other explanation for the poor English. Is she underage?…… Intellectually I mean.
While Fine Gael are attempting to influence laws with scripture, Sinn Fein are up to 21% support.
Are we finally getting a left and right in Irish politics?
I don’t know too many like that. There’s no commitment in being in a long term and loving relationship, someone could easily just walk away. I’m not saying all marriages are perfect either but if you’re in it for the long haul I don’t know why you’d have any objections to signing a piece of paper to that effect.
Hang on one second now, I’ve been in a relationship with my boyfriend for 10 years, at the moment we are still VERY MUCH in love and committed to each other. We did discuss marriage, but we decided against it because neither of us are religious, and well, frankly it’s a waste of money.
I don’t need a piece of paper to tell me that I’m in a committed relationship. For now we are in it “for the long haul” but I can’t see into the future, so I can’t say for certain our relationship will last until the day we die, anything could happen between now and then and in the end if unfortunately it did end for whatever reason, at least we wont have to waste more money and go through the painful process of a divorce.
Um, Abby we are all free individuals. I have been in a committed relationship for 30 years now and we have a lovely son. We never needed to get married. This is not a lack of commitment. We did not feel so insecure in our relationship that we needed a legally-binding contract to protect our rights, nor did we feel we had to have a public ritual to demonstrate our commitment to family and society. I do understand the historical context for marriage, when it was more of an economic contract, when religion made sex outside of marriage wrong, when families wanted to make sure that their daughters (who they ‘gave away’) were not impregnated and left, but haven’t we moved on? I am not criticising marriage – it is a lovely thing if people do feel the need for it or want that kind of ceremony, but let’s face it, whether you are married or not your relationship can still break up and of course many marriages do – it is the day-to-day commitment to do better, be a better partner, try to accept your loved one unconditionally and just stick with it that is really important and reaps so many rewards. I often feel a bit annoyed when I hear statistics that lump people living together into one group – of course within that group you are going to have people who are living together without commitment, or relationships that didn’t work out, so this kind of skews the statistics about break-up of relationships of people who are not married. It is an idiotic category and I also sometimes wonder why people have nothing better to do than worry about the fact that people like me are not married and how bad a thing that is! Y’all have a nice day now!
Thanks, Frank, you gave me a chuckle there. For someone who supports what is in effect religious tyranny, tyranny that forces those who are not adherents to follow its precepts, to then call others ‘closed minded’ is simply mind-boggling.
She is a solicitor for goodness sake, and once people understand who runs the judicial system, court corporations, etc, then they know Vatican is the core of authority and all answer to it.
The BAR , Temple Bar in UK- all take oath of allegience to it and they in turn answer to the Pope.
Who are her staff? Are the Parliamentary Assistants not meant to read and examine every word any TD says? Considering she is from Mayo, The Taoiseach’s constituency wouldn’t you think that she would pick the best??? Time for an office shuffle? I am with her on some of the thoughts she raised but other wise I think Michelle that you have corssed a line that debate will not cover up. Best to stay in Mayo and look after your own.
Think it is fair to put up her full speech…. I went looking just to make sure that we werent all jumping the gun a bit…and I do think it is ever so slightly a case of LOST IN TRANSLATION….. I was sticking the auld knife in earlier and I do feel like backing down a wee bit… http://corkfeminista.com/tag/michelle-mulherin/
The issue here should not be this womans outdated views on marriage and sex. It should be what is going to happen next? Why was it voted down and when is a revised bill going to be presented?
I wonder Is this the reason she is on earth
Unprotected sex and she has a hang up over it . Sad thing is we are paying her salary for her to come out with this crap
Just when I think this so-called government can’t sink any lower, This moronic woman shoots her mouth off (Sorry if the terminology evokes too sexual an image for you there Michelle.. Down with that sort of thing and all that) At the end of the day, It is not her or any other elected representatives role to tell the populace in 2012 how to conduct themselves sexually. If 2 (or more) consenting adults fail to have safe sex leading to STI’s or unwanted pregnancy, It will fall to 1 or both of them to deal with the decision making in order to achieve the best outcome. At a time when the Euro is weak and close to collapse, Inda is an empty vassal who merely passes on the Troikas demands to an ever despairing populace, and Irish women in 2012 still cannot claim FULL reproductive autonomy, I think Michelle has just served to show us up, once again, for the backward, moving statue viewing little bog that deep down Ireland really is. I despair.
She’s dead right, personal responsibility and morality have been long forgotten in this Country! From reading comments on here over d last few days it appears that one can not be pro life without being a religious nut! What happened to basic self respect and respect for life? You don’t need to be religious for these! Morality has gone out the window and a casual attitude to sex is causing huge problems in this country! I’m sure I’ll get plenty of red thumbs for this comment but I really don’t care! Where does personal responsibility come into all of this? I for one am pleased d gov rejected this bill and I don’t believe it’s because they are ruled by d church but maybe they just have a conscience and don’t like d idea of killing babies!
Here is the crux of the problem : “explaining that she had sought to introduce a religious aspect to the discussion to try and broaden the debate.”
Introducing religion to any discussion,doesn’t broaden the debate. Michelle Mulherin should really pray to the invisible sky god to help her to stop saying stupid shit.
Cromwell said “to hell or to Connaught”.. Michelle seems to be trying to get God back on her side. And then Michelle can say ” to Connaught and heaven..” well done deputy /savior…
Her comments are poorly timed. They suggests a willingness to somehow blame all women for getting in a situation where they need an abortion. Which must be upsetting to the women we are currently forcing on planes to England.
If she wanted to be more productive why not call for an end to tax on contraceptives or even subsidies for them, better education etc etc
Here we go again in the middle of a baby boom and Michelle of F/G light the touch paper of our dark side sex. The hidden part of our Irishness. Michelle you may have started a run on Sperm Banks. To think what F/G could with this No sex for the little people it,s to good for them. How long must we put up with fools like this when are we going to dump them, and put the young people in, so as this country and get back on it,s feet and we can live again with good sex.
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Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 102 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 133 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 103 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 75 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 74 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 36 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 32 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 124 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 59 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 72 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 79 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 37 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 42 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 24 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 82 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 92 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 65 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 48 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 81 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 60 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
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