Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THREE ACTIVISTS WHO led the Together for Yes campaign during the Eighth Amendment referendum have been named on Time magazine’s list of ‘Most Influential’ people for 2019.
Grainne Griffin, Ailbhe Smyth and Orla O’Connor were named in the ‘Icons’ section of the list, alongside newsmakers including Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Michelle Obama.
Donald Trump, Pope Francis and Xi Jinping are among heads of state to make the Top 100 in the ‘Leaders’ category.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was named on Time’s most influential list last year.
The entry for Griffin, Smyth and O’Connor was written by Irish actress Ruth Negga who said that:
Their incredible tenacity and integrity and courageousness will be an inspiration for generations to come.
Negga says that the Together for Yes campaign, “put the Mná na hÉireann (women of Ireland) front, centre and in control of their own bodies and rights like never before”.
The Together for Yes campaign was an umbrella group a made up of about 70 civil society groups that campaigned successfully for a Yes vote in the 2018 Eighth Amendment referendum.
Griffin, Smyth and O’Connor were co-directors of the group having each campaigned for the holding of a referendum as part of different groups.
Griffin is a founding member of the Abortion Rights Campaign and O’Connor is director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland.
Smyth, who was convenor of the Campaign to Repeal the Eighth Amendment, said Ireland’s result has had an impact beyond these shores.
“We are honoured to receive this accolade from Time Magazine. It is evidence of the significant international ‘ripple’ impact of the Together for Yes campaign,” she said today.
“The referendum result here in Ireland was a real boost for the morale of pro-choice campaigners throughout the word, and we hope it can be a beacon of light wherever and whenever abortion rights are denied, restricted or under severe threat.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Didn’t think we had woodpeckers in ireland
@liam mc meel: shoot
@Philip Murphy: shoot them or se
@liam mc meel: I’ve been listening to them chipping away at the trees for a good few years now. Sounds like a machine gun being shot in the distance
@michael odwyer: Indeed! They can heard rattling away at the metal tops of telegraph poles along the banks of Lough Erne. Some noise to experience!
@liam mc meel: they are pecking up their passports on the way over.
@liam mc meel: only in last 20 years. They flew in from Wales.
@liam mc meel: It’s amazing, I’ve never seen one here. I was going to say they’re very striking :-D
Ha ha ha HA ha, Ha ha ha HA ha, heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh!
Can’t comment on Finland taking action on illegal immigration. Why?
@paulinlavally@gmail.com: because the government told them not to let you
How about the so called professionals ESB put the electrical infrastructure underground? No let’s blame the woodpecker. And the top brass are earning €100,000s.
@robbie scanlon: How much do you think it would cost to put all the cables underground, billions? Are you willing to pay this extra on your bill? We allow one off developments and this is some of the cost associated with it.
@The next small thing: The cost, the cost, oh what about the cost.
These people are making hundreds of millions per year, let them upgrade their own infrastructure or get out of the game and let someone in that will think of everyone, including our animals.
You wanna punish the animal for getting in the way of capitalism!
@David: Bless your naivety if you think the end customer won’t pay the cost. I never mentioned animals in my comment so I don’t know why you brought that up however seeing as you have then surely you are against one off developments which destroys their habitat.
@robbie scanlon: why not blame the Donald
These woodpeckers are live wires with no forwarding address or postal code for billing purposes
@Jerry Collins: brilliant!!
They’re Welsh, not Poles. [Insert rant of choice about migrants]
Still not as irritating as the noise Mary Toilet makes when she opens her gob
@Peter Murray: and now your having a conversation with yourself
@Peter Murray: jeez Man are you ok??
Are those woodpeckers migrants from Wales.Shouldnt they be in direct provision and be made to apply for asylum
Wood (oops Would) treating telegraph poles with tar deter woodpeckers from damaging them?
@Garreth Byrne:
Not much fun if you are the worker that has to climb that pole after….
@Garreth Byrne: Or maybe change the material of the pole and stop punishing the wood pecker for being a wood pecker?
Nial “Hatch”…….. born for the job:)
@Edward Hughes: Ya gotta wonder if the name provoked his interest.
Amazing to have so many of them they run out of trees. We need more native trees and less conifer plantations…
Everyone says I’m paranoid for starting these Morse code lessons ,but I’m positive those woodpeckers are talking sh,t .
Seriously though, why have shops stopped stocking strawberries? Usually imported from Spain this time of year.
@Fintan Stack: oh Maaann!! Good point even though it’s such a First World problem… I used to grow my own I’d defo recommend it x
@Fintan Stack: parsnips from Spain too
Pesky woodpeckers, coming over here, taking our poles, messing with our trees! Round them all up and send them back! ;- )
@Mick Hanna: lol love it!!
These woodpeckers are live wires
Are these immigrant woodpeckers ?
Woodpeckers will not eat timber treated with creosote
Would these nests effect the overall structure safety and useable of these poles. I wouldn’t think so why not leave be.
Is this English?
Would these nests effect the overall structure safety and useable of these poles. I wouldn’t think so why not leave be.
@J M: “affect”. Apparently they do, since they are causing power outages.
Would these nests effect the overall structure safety and useable of these poles. I wouldn’t think so why not leave be.
Is this meant to be English?
Would they not set up the old poles they had to replace, so the birds can still nest in them? Or add new ones nearby that are shielded & leave the inhabited ones in place?
have your say