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WELL, THAT ESCALATED quickly.
The week began with the Taoiseach, when asked about the situation in Westminster, observing that he could say something “today and find out in 48 hours that it’s totally out of date”.
Fast-forward to two nights later and MPs had voted to reject a no-deal Brexit, 21 ‘rebels’ had been thrown out of the Conservatives by Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn had spurned the prime minister’s bid to call an October general election.
There was a lot of news to take in and no shortage of politicians, journalists and commentators weighing in with interventions and observations.
“Very volatile and dynamic” – That’s how the Taoiseach summed up how he expected the following few days to go in Westminster. In London later on Boris Johnson set out his stall, after convening an unscheduled Cabinet meeting.
Johnson said:
I want everybody to know that there are no circumstances in which I will ask Brussels to delay. We’re leaving on the 31 October, no ifs, no buts. We will not accept any attempt to go back on our promises or scrub that referendum.
“I don’t want an election, you don’t want an election,” Johnson insisted, amid increasing speculation that he intended to seek an election.
As the deadline for Brexit approaches we urge Ireland and the European Union, as well, to negotiate in good faith with Prime Minister Johnson, and work to reach an agreement that respects the United Kingdom’s sovereignty and minimises the disruption to commerce.
Mike Pence‘s stronger-than-expected remarks on Brexit made his joint press appearance with Leo Varadkar in Farmleigh a somewhat tense affair.
This Conservative government is aggressively pursuing a damaging Brexit in unprincipled ways. It is putting lives and livelihoods at risk unnecessarily and it is wantonly endangering the integrity of the United Kingdom.
Phillip Lee (centre, in the photo above) released the above in a statement immediately after crossing the floor of the House of Commons to defect from the Tories to the Liberal Democrats. He carried out his manoeuvre as Boris Johnson began his statement to the House. Lee quit as a junior minister last year over Theresa May’s approach to Brexit.
Later the same evening, Tory arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg dragged Parnell into the parliamentary debate, as he decried the opposition’s bid to bring in legislation delaying a no-deal Brexit.
He insisted:
The approach taken today is the most unconstitutional use of this House since the days of Charles Stewart Parnell, when he tried to bung up Parliament.
Rees-Mogg – who’s sometimes described, either affectionately or otherwise, depending on who’s doing the describing – as the Honourable Member for the 18th Century, took to lounging on the front-bench that same evening.
A photo of him tweeted by a Labour MP has since been retweeted 33,000 times.
The motion seizing control of the Commons timetable to legislate for the prime minister to seek an extension to Brexit was passed later that night, with the support of Tory rebels.
As election speculation continued to gather pace Johnson insisted:
I don’t want an election. The public don’t want an election. But if the House votes for this bill tomorrow, the public will have to choose who goes to Brussels on October 17 to sort this out and take this country forward.
If there’s an extension looked for, then I think whichever Prime Minister asks for that will need to make a persuasive case as to how that extension can be used to get a deal.
An interesting choice of words from Simon Coveney as he spoke at an Enterprise Ireland event to prepare businesses for Brexit.
Meanwhile, in Westminster, Boris Johnson was beginning to drop the pretence of not wanting an election. Regarding Jeremy Corbyn, he asked the speaker:
Will he allow the people of this country to decide on what he is giving up in their name with a general election on October 15 – or is he frit?
Johnson, as you may recall, also called the Labour leader a “chlorinated chicken”, and a “great big girl’s blouse”.
During the day’s debate, former chancellor Philip Hammond, a supporter of the anti no-deal legislation, made this memorable contribution:
I would sooner boil my head than hand power to the leader of the opposition.
Later that same night, Corbyn’s MPs abstained en masse to deprive Johnson of the election he now so desperately sought.
The Labour leader had said:
The offer of the election today is a bit like the offer of an apple to Snow White from the wicked queen. What he’s offering is not an apple or even an election, but the poison of a no deal.
But according to Johnson:
I think he has become the first leader of the opposition in the democratic history of our country to refuse the invitation to an election. I can only speculate as to the reasons behind his hesitation. The obvious conclusion is, I’m afraid, that he does not think he will win.
Standing in front of rows of police cadets in Yorkshire, Johnson insisted he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than have to seek another Brexit extension.
He also faced questions about the resignation of his brother Jo, announced earlier that day. The younger Johnson said he was to quit as junior minister and MP, tweeting:
In recent weeks I’ve been torn between family loyalty and the national interest – it’s an unresolvable tension & time for others to take on my roles.
As the threat of a no-deal continued to rise, the Taoiseach issued some stark no-deal Brexit warnings at a British Irish Chamber of Commerce event.
There will still be plenty of food on shelves but perhaps not all of the same brands.
There will be checks on goods and live animals and, as far as possible, they will take place in ports, airports and at businesses. But some may need to take place near the border.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin called for the government to publish everything it planned to do in the event of a no-deal. Speaking in New Ross he said:
I think it is long past time for the government to publish everything it has about no deal preparations. Let’s see the full details. Without the spin and with the full costs and administrative arrangements outlined.
As Boris Johnson‘s woes continued a Downing Street spokesperson declined to say whether the PM would quit if he was unable to take the UK out of the EU, when asked by The Independent.
Johnson himself said, on a visit to Aberdeenshire, that resigning if the country did not leave the EU by Halloween was “not a hypothesis I want to contemplate”.
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If they didn’t hide the outcomes to save their own mistakes than it should not have been a problem. Dishonesty from the HSE is the problem.
@Hans Vos: no the problem, as with cervical screening is that NO test is 100% accurate and you will always have false negatives. It’s nobody’s ‘fault’.
@Ciaran Bolger: I agree that no test is 100% accurate. But hiding the results so woman didn’t know their test was suspicious and ultimately ended up in full blown cancers was.
@Ciaran Bolger: false negatives might be nobody’s fault but covering up certainly was somebody’s fault.
@Hans Vos: In a blame culture like ours, informing a patient of a false negative will likely result in a legal action and collapse of the service- thats what they were afraid of , and that is what is going to happen.
The breast screening program was hit with 15 solicitors letters- best course of action would be to stop “look back” audits -to protect the programs.
@paul kelly: So you saying that women who are in the past willingly misleaded can’t have their rights executed?
@Hans Vos:
Of course you can , it just will cost millions.
@paul kelly: Don’t you think that being honest from the beginning could have avoided all the hassle. That’s the problem with the HSE . There are people, and don’t get me wrong not everybody, who think that they are more important than the truth. When it’s going wrong than they blame : 1 Somebody else.
2 Politics
.3 The system.
4 The cost.
And I can get on and on but they never blame them self.
@Hans Vos: No, being honest with a look back audit showing the screen to be a false negative will lead to a substantial payout.
Solicitors are looking at a definite new income stream.
@paul kelly: contrary to you I like to be honest.
@Hans Vos: Oh I believe honesty is the ideal , but it will cost hundreds of millions, the collapse of screning and the deaths of far more women.
@paul kelly:
Make that 16 from Monday next. There will be no collapse of the service that’s scaremongering. I never knew there was a look back service nobody ever mentioned it OR A REVIEW
I really hope that this is not:
A) Another case of our healthcare system failing women
B) People jumping on the bandwagon hoping to make a few euro!
@Jenny Kelleher: I have to disagree with your statement about looking for a few quid… in most cases including the cervical cancer cases the hse deny everything and in fact try to cover up what has happened…. nobody goes to jail, nobody is held responsible… the only retribution these people receive is a pay out… and let me tell you that it’s not an easy decision to make about bringing a case because it is a long and very difficult process.. and is even more so difficult when all you can think is,what if people think I’m doing this just for money !!
@Tommy Byrne: There was no cover up. There were false negative results discovered retrospectively (an inevitable feature of any screening programme), some women were told of this others weren’t due to failure of HSE procedures. There is no suggestion that the women’s outcomes were adversely affected as the prior false negatives were only discovered on review after a diagnosis of cancer had been made. The lawsuits pertain to the false negatives themselves. If a situation emerges where there are payouts for every false negative result then the screening programmes will be driven to bankruptcy as false negatives are an inherent statistical feature of large scale screening programmes.
@Damon16: in the cervical cancer cases it most definitely was a cover up … and who is to say there isn’t something similar happening here ? We don’t know the facts of any of the future cases that may come of this. All we are hearing is one side of the story so far… so to judge people as only in it for a few quid is very wrong
@Tommy Byrne:
Indeed ..very wrong
The medical profession and the Gov need to do a better job explaining to the public the difference between a screening test and a diagnostic test. A screening test such as breast check will invariably have some false negatives results. The Gov need to introduce legislation capping or limiting claims in the context of screening programmes. If they don’t the HSE is the HSE are going to stop running screening tests and or not bring in new screening tests due to legal exposure. This will cost many lives.
Alternatively, push for a national Irish healthcare system that looks after patients to internationally recognised, excellent standards. Adopt a class action suit with one aim; justice and improved medical standards. Don’t force individuals to take individual cases and slog through alone. Too many people end up going abroad – men who need hip replacements badly, and have been waiting in pain on long lists, for example. Don’t inflict symphysiotomy on women while the rest of the world is not crippling their own citizens with decades-old clumsy practices. Don’t sweep the outcomes under the carpet until a few suffering families have to spend all their resources to highlight real and ongoing issues and appeal to higher courts separately until they die and the files are closed.
There are lots of pros and cons to screening. Some medics (and not crackpots) would argue against most kinds of screening and a lot of unnecessary screening takes places privately (ie a money spinner). Total transparency and full disclosures are needed in public and private health care.
Do they not have ambulances to chase?
It’s no good in trying to shift the blame for problem onto women who had smear checks carried out on systemic failure on the HSE full stop.
The circus continues with the legal profession rubbing their hands with glee ,the government have to take responsibility ,this has been kept back from the media to prevent the effects it may have on the referendum .again no accountability ,put your trust in LEO and simon everything will just be fine
My god,these people think the public are fools.
@@mdmak33: Clearly some are.
Where were the tests carried out?
Were they the cheapest option?
@The Irish Bull: tested in Ireland and results read in Ireland. Totally different process to cervical screening.
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