Me, my wife and our son were treated with the utmost dignity abroad; we felt we were treated like outcasts here. We did not get to attend our son’s cremation. We did not know when it was; we just got a courier package at our door within a couple of weeks of his death. We signed for him like one would any Amazon delivery. The thought that our son was cremated alone troubled us for a long time. It really haunted us that we were not there. Years later, I learned that the pathologist from the hospital travels to the crematorium with the babies that are left in her care. She takes them in her car and she sits with them while they are cremated so they are not alone. I learned that about ten years after he died and we cried again then because we saw that there were people who did not know us from a bar of soap and cared about us and our baby enough to do that in a completely unsung way. It just made us more angry at how we had felt abandoned by Ireland at the time.
Gerry Edwards of Termination for Medical Reasons Ireland (TFMR) spoke to the Eighth Amendment committee about the death of his son Joshua.
The higher the profile and success of a member of society, the greater the fall.
The words of Judge Karen O’Connor as she sentenced former Irish Times sports journalist Tom Humphries to two-and-a-half years in prison for child sex abuse offences.
When he spoke out in favour of gay marriage, it was undoubtedly an authentic declaration of support. But that’s precisely why an apology here is necessary. Perhaps he views acknowledging an error and expressing regret as a sign of weakness, but a genuine apology would represent a much stronger response than the silence of the past week. Ignorance and stubbornness, again.
The42.ie’s Paul Dollery on Conor McGregor’s silence after he was caught on camera using the word ‘faggot’.
There are days Alana is screaming so much we have all been in tears.
Rachel Reid on her daughter Alana’s EB (epidermolysis bullosa), a genetic condition which causes the skin’s various layers to blister or break at the slightest touch.
I acknowledge that one sentence used by me in the Sean O’Rourke interview could be reworded to more accurately express my meaning. But my meaning was clear anyway, both in the full context of that interview and in later radio interviews.
Senator Ronan Mullen said that comments he made about Savita Halappanavar could have been “reworded”. He said that if abortion on demand had been available, “she wouldn’t have been in the hospital because she wouldn’t have been pregnant and she wouldn’t have been having a miscarriage”.
When I was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, at the start, I didn’t know what I was doing, what was happening. I asked myself do I hide it or do I be straight up? Kilkenny is a small place and I know a lot of people. I decided I had to go and face it and to be straight with people. Trying to hide things would have been worse. It should be out there.
The words of Paddy Butler, who featured in a new HSE campaign aimed at increasing understanding and support for people with dementia.
I don’t think we got it because we’re women. I don’t think we would have wanted it on that basis either.
Keelin Shanley on being announced as the new face of RTÉ’s Six One News, alongside Caitriona Perry.
"I hate to go, but I'm afraid I have to leave. So thank you, and goodnight." Bryan Dobson signs off Six One. https://t.co/j554wS8fDm pic.twitter.com/tu9plhUVoO
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 25, 2017
I hate to go, but I’m afraid I have to leave. So thank you, and goodnight.
Bryan Dobson gave an emotional farewell to the show.
Can I say to my right honourable friend, that I think it is important that we mark the centenary next year and recognise the role that women have played in this House and in their time in the area of public life
UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s reaction to the suggestion of honouring the centenary of the election of the first female member of parliament. It’s not entirely clear if she realised this was Countess Markievicz.
God knows what will happen next year.
Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s reaction to being asked if he will run for president next year.
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