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| Slick and Colourful |
I could win a pub trivia quiz on
Oireachtas members by now, especially the courageous rural representatives.
Enda and Michéal were sparring over
the #anglotapes and blaming each other like the cost centres do when the TV doesn’t
work because they’ve unplugged scarts, hdmls/whatever cables for playstation or xBox. There’s
no den now with gentlemen lodgers in residence. I had quite a rant when I
found a blank screen and couldn’t catch up with Vincent Browne and his hissy fits.
I arrived at Dail Question Time yesterday
morning, invited by the Termination for Medical Reasons (TFMR) group. John
Halligan, Waterford TD was requesting the Taoiseach to add an amendment to
the Bill to include Fatal Foetal Abnormality.
The chamber hushed as he spoke. It’s a
subject on which the members daren’t scream or throw abuse at each other.
Deputy Halligan indicated the group of women in the gallery, as a latecomer I
was seated amongst a group of strangers. He spoke of the crisis
of conscience some members were having on the Bill and reiterated that 1,500
women endure the traumatic news that their baby won’t live, each year in
Ireland. 80% of those women travel abroad rather than prolong the agony. They too
have a crisis of conscience. Every day four devastated couples receive this
terrible news.
He spoke of one woman who could not
attend, her story was so traumatic I would not repeat it here.
I was very, very disappointed with the
Taoiseach’s response. His tone had all the gravitas of someone who gave a damn,
but it was nothing but clotted cream going sour. He spoke of a woman he knew
who chose to carry the baby with fatal foetal abnormality to term, to hold it
as it died, and the comfort that it gave her. She is lucky she had the choice
to do that. Why didn’t he care enough to talk to a woman who had to make the
other choice? And listen. If I hear the word compassion again from a naysayer…
*breathe*
Hmmm. Excuse the twitter creep into these latter posts, it’s a
cross pollination, please bear with me, while I adjust from the 140 character
space into the rambling blog arena.
Afterwards, at a press conference chaired
by Richard Boyd Barrett over in Buswells, the speakers included Sarah and James
from TFMR who have both experienced separate traumatic experiences, including
having the ashes of their babies couriered home to them in an envelope *deep
breathe*.
I noticed Fiach Mac Conghail sitting
at the front and wondered what the director of the Abbey Theatre was doing
there. When he spoke, I realised, of course he is a senator and, significantly,
the Taoiseach’s nominee. He said he was there to bear witness and decried the ‘debasement
of women’ through the present legislation.
Joe Higgins pointed out that the Ceann
Chomhairle cannot block the proposal of an amendment at debate stage, so it
will be raised.
Senator Averil Power quoted my case, D
v Ireland 2006, and on the basis of the State’s defence, she anticipated the
legislation will go to the Supreme Court.
Roisin Shortall was at pains to tell
me that what the Attorney General says, goes. I thought it was just the pope
who was infallible. I know that every point can be argued several ways, which
is what happened in D v Ireland and Miss D v HSE argued by the same barrister, Gerard
Hogan, now a judge.
I asked John Halligan what was the realistic chance of getting the amendment added, at least he and his cross party colleagues were unanimous in stating that they would not stop until it was legislated for.
I asked John Halligan what was the realistic chance of getting the amendment added, at least he and his cross party colleagues were unanimous in stating that they would not stop until it was legislated for.
Outside in the sunshine, I noticed
some pretty young girls and a young man holding placards outside the Dáil,
nothing strange about that these days. Except it is usually the aged and
disenfranchised who do their best to seek attention on that stretch of footpath. They were tall, healthy,
slim women with touches of natural make-up; two wore a striking Chanel rouge
lipstick. A woman with her back turned was walking up and down the line as if
she was a choir mistress, getting them to repeat their lines.
I thought, ‘this is the time to talk,
to ask some questions,’ I crossed the road and approached the young woman with
the placard ‘Doesn’t Save Lives’ on it and tried to ask her what it meant, as
we know a woman died because she was denied a termination last October in
Galway. I was whisked away by the choir mistress, ‘I’ll talk to you,’ she
urged.
‘But I want to ask that girl what she
thinks’, I protested.
There was absolutely no way I could be
allowed talk to the fembots holding the actual placards. I use that term
because they were being treated like that by their leader. I had a reasonable
conversation with her until she said ‘research shows women who terminate in the
case of FFA suffer more trauma’ in calm tones I responded,
(1)
There
is no research in Ireland on that subject.
(2)
The
trauma is because they are told to leave the hospital and the country
(3)
You
don’t need the rest repeated.
This woman was well trained in
obfuscation, interruption and deployment of questions; I’m not convinced the
women holding the placards could speak English.
At the funeral this morning of a very
special old lady who died suddenly on Sunday, I was taken aback to hear the
priest preach on the same subject from the altar, seeking guidance for the
legislators on this Bill. This was the final farewell opportunity of her family
and friends, a time to contemplate her life and show respect, but the *church* saw fit to use the opportunity for a campaign
manifesto.
R.I.P.
