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.
Updated 11pm
A LOCAL ELECTION candidate was told she was being “devilishly clever” and accused of corruption because she is pregnant.
Fianna Fáil’s Lorraine Clifford says that she received the abuse in an email from a member of the public last night but has also been subjected to “smart comments” about her pregnancy from some of her party colleagues.
Clifford, a candidate in the Pembroke-South Dock constituency in Dublin, says that the first email she received from the man referred to her as “dirty lowlife scum”.
“The email went on to say that I should ‘go to the gym’ and that I should ‘get my roots done’,” she told TheJournal.ie today.
Clifford said she responded to the man telling him that she would not be ‘going to the gym’ because she is five months pregnant:
I then got a reply late last night saying that I was being ‘devilishly smart’ for the timing of my pregnancy and that ‘us poor suckers would end up paying for it’. The email said that this was an example of ‘typical Fianna Fáil corruption’.
Clifford, who is a trained solicitor and works full-time in her own law practice, says that the email is an example of the kind of sexist attitude women politicians have to put up with, adding that such attitudes needs to be called out.
“I don’t think a man’s appearance, a man’s family status would be subject to any of this kind of vile abuse. It’s this kind of rubbish that puts women off from putting themselves forward,” she says.
Clifford says that Fianna Fáil have been overwhelmingly supportive of her pregnancy and that both the party leader and chairman were delighted upon hearing the news.
Despite this, she says she has been subjected to some “smart comments” from some party members who have made reference to her pregnancy, questioning her commitment and even if her candidacy was healthy for the baby.
“Even when I got engaged last Summer there were some people who were in a sense writing me off, saying things like ‘you’re going to be caught up now choosing flowers and that’. Basically just trying to put me off.”
“There has to be a shift in attitudes in regards to women, ” Clifford says, adding that as a woman who is working and starting a family, she is able to empathise with the many people who have to do the same.
“If you rule out that cohort of the population, that’s a lot of people of that age who could become involved in politics.”
First published 4.12pm
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Congratulations and a fantastic idea.
I only wish this was around when I was in school.
I spent years typing in basic code from computer weekly for simple games, and there was nobody else doing it at the time and I dropped it after school. Would have taken a different path if this had been around.
Well done, hobby today, career tomorrow.
perhaps something like this could be done for adults too? i know id be interested
@Abi, I just did a crash course in scratch programming, you can download it free from scratch.mit.edu, check out a few videos on how to do it and you can look at what others have made and how they made it, and you can copy and evolve their code, ideas etc.. works a bit like Lego, the more you play with it the better you get. It’s quite basic at the start but you can do some cool stuff once you get good
Fair f*cks to him. Also, there’s Enda Kenny, as usual embarrassing everyone like your cheesy Dad at Christmas dinner.
Well done James. I’ll be bringing my young fella along to the cork dojo in September. he’s only 7 but already made a simple game and a calculator in Python :)
Well done, I’m firmly convinced everyone has their ‘speciality’, be that an academic thing, a caring thing, or an arty thing, etc…all should be applauded in equal measure, all are of equal importance, in the greater scheme of things. This is a superb idea, fair fu.ks to you, you’ll go far and so you should’
A simple solution to a complex problem. Brilliant. Pity this couldn’t be encompassed in the schools curriculum and genuinely teach this stuff to the kids a few times a week, not for an hour a week by someone who’s a few years from retirement and afraid of computers. He’s right, he and others like him are filling a void in our educational system that has been there for years. The trouble is now that he’s doing it, the void will still be left there.
Great idea, we’ll done James.
Great success story congratulations James . Great to see someone who enjoys teaching and passing on a skill that could be life changing for some of the children .maybe the next bill gates is out there amongst them. Continued success for the future
That picture was taken at a special sitting of the CoderDojo which took place in the Dail. We are the first country to hold a “class” in their parliament buildings as far as I gather. CoderDojo is amazing and it’s scary how much some the kids know at them. God help the lecturers in third level when the kids eventually meet them.
Would love to be able to attend something like this. Shame I’m well out of school :(
absolutely brilliant idea and badly needed in Ireland. got to say the pic of cash-in-kenny made me sick because this stuff should be part of the everyday curriculum imo. govt are totally dragging their feet on this to the detriment of Ireland.
I think dojo came from the Japanese meaning of “place to learn” and then coder as in they are training to become “Ninja” Coders. I would imagine it was an interesting process picking that name.
I agree this is a great idea. I think it should be kept outside the education system and sponsored/funded like a charity. This will allow the people running it full freedom to let it develop in any direction it wants. I love the idea that google has given it a facility to use. The kick a kid must get out of walking into that building like that. It gives it a real buzz feeling.
I never thought of it that way, I guess you have a point there Robert, I still think if these folks are giving up their time to fill a void in our education system, the least the state can do is help them, maybe with equipment or premises.
I have to ask, where did you get the name CoderDojo from?
I cannot understand why you got a single down vote, why would people be against such an overwhelmingly positive idea? Does anybody stand to lose anything?
people scrolling down on mobile devices tapping the thumbs up/down by accident, I suspect as much as 50% of the ups and down’s here are unintentional.
Such an uplifting story. Well done and may you continue to grow.
This is a great idea, and it has really taken off. Well done James!
Well done. A brilliant idea.
Would work for all ages
have your say