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THE GOVERNMENT IS set to oppose the latest bill on termination for medical reasons (TFMR).
Last night, a government spokesperson said that Clare Daly’s proposed bill would be opposed “for the same reasons that previous bills were opposed”.
Opposing a previous bill put forward by Daly in April 2012, then-health minister James Reilly said that the government “cannot accept” the legislation as it currently stood, because it was “lacking in certain legal respects”.
“Hypocrites”
In response to the news, Deputy Clare Daly told TheJournal.ie:
They might as well wear a badge marked hypocrite. Over 50 of them have spoken on the need for this. Their shallow tears and words are an insult to the women and couples suffering from this violation of human rights. They have six days to change their minds or forever be judged for their callousness.
The bill will be put to vote on 10 February, and will be debated on Friday.
TFMR Ireland said today:
We beseech the Government to legislate now to end the barbaric practice of abandoning women and couples in their greatest hour of need. Many TDs and Senators across the parties have already expressed support for a change in legislation on this issue. While we are grateful that so many politicians have gone ‘on record’ as supportive, expressions of support for change without a willingness to enact that change is actually only adding insult to injury.
The feel that the constitutionality of the proposed amendment is sound, given the arguments made by the State in D v Ireland at the European Court of Human Rights 2006, and also the judgement in PP v Health Service Executive 2014.
“If this doesn’t pass, we are going to have to seek legal advice,” James Burke of TFMR Ireland said.
The bill
Jennifer Schweppe, a legal expert involved in drafting the bill, said that the law in Ireland is “cruel, the law is stark”.
She said that they have “fully squared up the legal position” in this bill, and they are not proposing any change of law.
Schweppe said that the Constitution creates a “balancing act” between the life of a woman and the unborn, and there is no “equality of life” in these circumstances.
Schweppe said that the obligation on the State is to preserve the life of the unborn “as far as practicable”. She described the proposed bill as “incredibly limited”.
It doesn’t allow for terminations in the case where there is a possibility of life outside the womb, where there is talk of minutes and hours and days and weeks. This only allows for termination [...] in cases where the baby is incompatible with life.
If passed, the bill would include an amendment that includes a provision that two suitably qualified medical professionals (an obstetrician and a perinatologist) jointly certify in good faith that the foetus in question is suffering from a fatal foetal abnormality.
At an emotional press conference this morning, parents from the TFMR group outlined why this new bill should be accepted by the government. Members of TFMR Ireland also spoke to politicians about their experiences today, and a documentary by Luke McManus about TFMR was shown to a number of TDs and Senators this afternoon.
Guilt and illegality
At today’s press conference, three parents spoke about being told their children in the womb were not compatible with life.
One man said that he and his wife went through the experience a number of years ago, but they only went public 18 months ago.
He said that because a termination is illegal in Ireland, “that illegality stays with you”. He spoke of his guilt for not speaking up sooner, wondering if the legal situation would have been different for other couples if he had spoken up.
“Please, for everybody’s sake, support our bill,” he appealed.
Sarah McGuinness’s daughter was diagnosed with anencephaly in 2009 when she was 26 weeks pregnant. She said the heartache of the diagnosis was compounded by having to travel abroad.
“It’s so disheartening for us,” said McGuinness of the fact that previous bills on TFMR were not supported when put before the Dáil.
She said that as a lay person, the fact that the whip may restrain TDs from voting as they wanted to angered her. “That’s not reality, it’s hiding behind a cloak,” she said.
“Please don’t force a woman to grow a baby that is going to die,” she said, adding “these are much-wanted babies”.
Deirdre Conroy, who brought her case to the European Court of Human Rights, said TDs should “look deep within their conscience”.
The Pro-Life Campaign called for “balance in this debate”, saying that parents of babies with life-limiting conditions are “entitled to hear about the positive benefits of perinatal hospice care”.
- Additional reporting Hugh O’Connell
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Totally agree. Waste of garda time and tax payers money, all the people who smoke it are gonna! They’re gonna! Yeah they gonna sit at home watch a movie and fall asleep. . . Its so dangerous.
I agree legalise it along with heroin and cocaine. We will save loads in revenue. People will use what they want
Isn’t it funny how society has accepted the fact that the government have banned something that grows naturally and which doesn’t have to be processed in any way for it to be consumed, they’ve basically banned nature and got away with it. They could allow people grow their own plants, whether they want to enjoy them recreationally or benefit from their medicinal properties, but instead they’ve created an underworld marketplace which is run by organised crime gangs, who also have a financial incentive to supply their customers with more harmful & addictive substances.
Unfortunately everything you say makes perfect sense;therefore will be ignored…
Legalise it
Tax it
Free up Garda time to tackle real crime
If that happened you would see an end to a lot of our economic problems it would also create jobs
And use would go down that fact has been proven
Probably boost tourism too!
Legalise it absolutely Fagan but f*ck taxing it!
Why should I pay the dail parasites money for a plant that grows out of the ground?
They’ve already taxed us pretty much on the air we breathe so f*ck them!
Taxing it doesn’t mean you can’t grow. Sure how many people you know brew their own sauce?
Most would be too lazy and would buy.
Legalise weed.
Totally agree. Waste of garda time and tax payers money.
What a waste of Garda resources, time and money.
More unemployment…
Don’t forget 2 install solar panels next time guys….
The guards would save more lives if they raided diageo and publicly destroyed all the liquor.
Cannabis should be legal but definitely for chronic pain.
Bring on Sativex, the 5 drugs i’m on now are shite for controlling pain.
Mick I do sympathise with you but why just for chronic pain? Why shouldn’t it be allowed for Bi Polar and other conditions where the benefits have been proven? Any why Sativex which is an synthetic version which can cost up to €10 a day? Why not just allow people to grow enough for their own needs?
i would prefer to grow some but as i travel a lot i don’t want to risk being caught. It should be legalized for all conditions.
I know home grown cannabis would be better than sativex but sativex will be legal.
But sativex is just big pharma raping a gift from the universe and selling it at a rediculous price.
Yes, the Irish tax payer will be forking out €millions every year so that MS sufferers can avail of a cannabis spray, one which is reported to be less effective than the plant in its natural form. If cannabis was legalised, cannabis tinctures could be easily made at a fraction of the cost of what GW Pharmacueticals are going to charge. Tinctures were in fact readily available from pharamacies for the treament of a numebr of ailments, prior to cannabis being prohibited.
Didn’t they try that in the states mick prohibition didn’t turn out well
What a backwards bunch we are. We make a naturally growing plant illegal, and lock people up for growing or possessing it. And we still have a disturbingly large percentage of the country stuck in “Reefer Madness” mode. Go on, you muppets, keep looking down on people who enjoy this miraculous plant, while smoking your chemical-laden, commercial cigarettes, and skulling your liver-rotting alcohol. Hypocrisy mixed with idiocy.
Nice seizure. Well done!
They’ve had lots of practice. They’ve been at the drug war for over fifty years. Are there more grow houses in Ireland than there were 50 years ago? Are there more drug addicts in Ireland than there were 50 years ago? Hmmm. Maybe the drug war isn’t such a good strategy. Maybe they should try another approach? Portugal?
It’s worked for them, more people going to rehab willingly too.
Lets face it though it would be out of charachter for the government to do something positive for the country.
Why, Pauric? Impart us with your thoughts on said subject? Please be objective, and don’t just spout out some ill-informed anti drugs invective.
Should be a referendum on it let the people decide!!!!
I could acquire top-quality weed in ten minutes if I wanted, and I don’t even smoke the stuff. That’s how ubiquitous it is. It’s everywhere, and it’s harmless.
When the government limits personal freedoms for arbitrary reasons with no benefit to society, it loses credibility as an institution.
Easy to find these grow houses
The Garda are informed of any unusually high electrical activity in a area
Yeah, that would be great, even if he’s only given the minimum 10 year mandatory sentence, it would cost the tax payer €654,040 (€65,404 being the average annual cost of imprisonment in Ireland, not including education costs), I’d personally prefer to see that kind of money being spent on such things as Health and Education, rather than seeing it wasted on locking up small time criminal gardeners.
That was in reply to itiswhatitisMF’s ridiculous comment below.
The medicinal benefits, crime surrounding drug dealing & tax that could help boost our economy clearly aren’t good enough reasons for the Irish government.
Before some smart arse refers to the “crime surrounding drug dealing ” no I don’t think all drugs should be legalized. My 62 year old uncle with chronic arthritus was recently hopped on the way home from purchasing a plant that grows freely though..in my opinion thats wrong.
Typical. 1 person gets caught and they sing from high heaven. No honour amongst people involved in drugs. Get caught then rat out your best friend or your cousin to stay out of jail. This drug bust will lead to others getting caught and so on.
Why be so begrudging? ;-)
But seriously, people will get what they want when they want. Legalise it all, tax it, make people sign forms to say they use it (alcohol tobacco incl) so their medical bills reflect their lifestyle choice.
Fact is fatty fatty fat fats and smokers don’t pay any more for healthcare for some reason. I think an avid exerciser should be rewarded for their healthy lifestyle.
So who is winning the war on drugs? The gardaí or the dealers?
Hmmmm….scratches chin!
People on drugs are winning “the war on drugs”
Sophisticated cultivation system = hydroponic growing system, not so sophisticated after all, very simple actually.
oh no! That Clondalkin Red is some legendary shite!
That name is derogatory at best.
Meant to comment on one above sorty
thank god another drug pusher off the streets
But Thomas, what difference does it really make? Drug dealers come ten a penny, lock 1,000 of them up and another 10,000 will follow, like any other consumable product, once there’s demand, there’ll be supply (especially when it’s so profitable), it’s basic economics.
The sensational story of €400,000 worth of cannabis being caught sounds great, but when you stop & think about it for a minute, you realise that they probably only caught some lackey and confiscated a few grands worth of equipment (the next grow house that they set up will recover the cost of this bust pretty easily). Then you need to ask what costs are involved, how many Garda man hours were spent on the operation, how much free legal aid is going to be needed (more tax payers money wasted), how much court time is going to be used up and how much will it cost to send the guy to prison? And you also need to ask, what did it really acheive? Absolutely Nothing!! The same amount of people will still be using cannabis and they’ll still be able to get it at the drop of a hat.
I’ve just dropped my hat, can u get me some? No mun, no fun :(
Something being overlooked here – they ‘estimate’ the street value of some five hundred plants are worth four hundred grand? Whose arse did they pull that number out of??! Is that by the spliff prices?? It might take another twenty years but it will eventually be decriminalised here. Common sense suggests it should be, anyway…
5 seeds cost 50€ so im told! You do the maths.
Abolishing the Seanad would save the country 20 million a year..legalising canabis could triple that, massive boost for the country and reduce criminal gangs profit.. Oh no hold this is a bad idea.. CUT THE BENEFITS..
Think of the flocks of tourists, albeit stoners, who would flock to Ireland if we legalised cannabis.
The drug itself is less harmful than alcohol.
It should be available on the medical card weed that is mmm!
Hopefully he gets life for this.
Hopefully you grow a brain and educate yourself on the subject of drugs.
have your say