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A RENUA IRELAND candidate for Cavan/Monaghan has stepped down after comments she made about the Vatican on an anti-abortion Facebook page.
This morning the Sunday Times reported Mary Smyth labelled the Vatican as “the Antichrist” in comments on the ‘Irish anti-abortion crusade’ Facebook group page.
Her remarks were made in response to Pope Francis’ decision to allow St Peter’s Basilica to be used for a light show coinciding with the Paris climate change talks. The decision angered conservative Catholics as they claimed the Vatican was allowing climate change activists to push their agenda.
Smyth reportedly described the Vatican as “corrupt, riddled with gay sex and adoration of wealth”.
On her candidate Facebook page, the counselling psychologist and qualified nurse said she had decided to run because she was “tired of the lies, betrayals and false promises” of the current government.
Among her priorities, she listed improvements in mental health services for children, the provision of dedicated drug rehabilitation facilities and vigorous defence of the Eighth Amendment.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie today, spokesperson for Renua Ireland John Drennan said there had been a “parting of ways” and that the party wished Smyth well.
“On discovering the views, and prior to any media enquiries, the leader wrote to Mary Smyth requesting one, were these views her actual views and two, expressing great concern, in particular about references to gays, that such references should be extremely hurtful,” he said.
The party also launched an investigation by its ethics officer.
When asked whether Smyth’s comments were representative of the party’s views, he said:
Renua is a party which believes in freedom of conscience but freedom of conscience does not give you the freedom to say anything.
“These matters have now obviously been subsumed by the decision of Mary Smyth to not contest the election,” Drennan added.
TheJournal.ie has contacted Mary Smyth for comment.
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Beautiful pic. Just before he dons the balaclava so he can mug us
It would be more in Hogan’s line to curb his spending on lavish junkets such as 10K spent on a day trip and so on!
@ Scrap.. Brilliant .. made me laugh!!
@joan. There’s a new tax on laughing in next budget. Be careful
I think Filthy Phil should be forced to inspect every single septic tank in the country. Personally.
And actually get into the first one!!!!!
Ah hold on Bernadette. Can u imagine the smell of sh1t off him after that? Oh wait …
Yes Scrap, there would indeed be a foul smelling ( to him only ) sense of poetic justice in your proposal. Still, knowing his kind, he would probably create such a stink, that he would get a transfer, to another less fragrant position. It’s still a nice image though.
Septic tanks are such a load of crap. Sorry, I’ll let myself out…
ur full of shit
There’s the carrot, next comes the stick.
Fine Gael must think the people of Ireland of complete idiots this is another con job to try and get the names and addresses of people.
How much will it cost to have a faulty one replaced
A lot depends on the problem. Most likely it’s going to be the leech field where the liquor from the tanks is dispersed into the ground. The pipes tend to get blocked and/or there wasn’t enough pipe in the first place. So your looking at a digger, 50m of perforated pipe ( not yellow land drain that most have) and a load of drainage chips. That would be around 1500 at a guess for a standard site with easy access for the plant and excl reseeding the lawn etc. If the land is no good for drainage or the tank is too high then you may have to dig it all up and possibly put in a active solution with multiple chambers and then the cost and running costs ( electric & filters) climb steeply.
Top of the range system 5000 although there are cheaper systems available
thanks guys, dont normally side with the devil but I think he’s right on this one
Here’s what’s going to happen, I bet at least 50% will have to spend big money to get them to “standard” 5-6k stuff.
Watch this space, this is to get info and cover their arse.
My septic tank fitted cost me €7k in 07
I have just replaced mine after twenty years of rodding, poking, emptying, checking and stinking. The cost was over twelve thousand for a state of the art one. I sleep easier but substantially poorer.
We have been told approx six grand
When you register your Tank you are given the Council permission to enter your premisses at any time .
You must ask to see there safe pass and Insurance Certificate before they enter .
Your Septic Tank is already registered with the Council , they are the body who decide when you applied
for Planning where your Septic Tank was to be located , if you every tried to sell your House be sure the Council
will tell you where your tank is .
With out this New Register the council can not enter your premisses .
If there is a problem with your Tank the Council is liable , they decide where it went in the first place .
Wrong. Councils already have
this power under the Waste Management Act and Water Pollution Act.
Good luck getting past the Alsatian lads
Hope that dog’s taxed
Backtracking I see. Hope similar outcome with property tax, child benefit and carers grants.
Keith
I do not think he is back tracking …He is offering a grant etc if people will register. They want our details at any cost.
Stand firm and don’t register , It is a divide and conquer tactic.
Don’t worry about the property tax. It will only last the lifetime of this thatcherite government. Hopefully we will be rid of this shower soon when the Labour party implodes. At the next election all candidates will be asked – Scrap the property tax “Yes” or “No”? Only anti property tax candidates have any hope of being elected.
appeasement. shows they will back down to people making a stand.
Keep holding out. Next Hogan will be offering us discounts on the house tax if you register your septic tank. Another ill planed knee jerk by a government filled with them.
Eileen
The danger with your advice is that grants may be refused to householders who have to update their system but didn’t register. When the inspector visits an area it will become immediately obvious where tanks are located and whether the soil structure is likely to cause a problem with waste water treatment. I think you should be much more cautious about the consequences of someone heeding your advice and getting into massive trouble.
All of my neighbours have had to spend thousands replacing our systems but we were more concerned at being fined for polluting a watercourse which is the existing legal position. Indeed our septic tanks can be inspected right now by the EPA under pre existing anti pollution legislation.
Wishful thinking?
Is there going to be an article about Big Phil being dragged into the high court in the new year? To answer questions over the the Household Tax.
I’d sooner see Hogan dragged into a septic tank rather than a court!
Once the horror stories of septic tank pollution start coming out (and based on indications so far, they will) this will seem less like a Thatcherite imposition and more like something we should have been doing twenty years ago.
Any relation Noel?
No thank God!
I doubt Hogan would want to bring in this charge, like most politicians he’d prefer to long finger it as has been done for decades. But since we signed to to implement this directive he has no choice. Embarrassing really that Europe has to force our political system to address this issue.
It is necessary for the good of the country to have the septic tank problem fixed and only stupid people would go against this decision. . Do we really want to be ingesting our own sewage (or other peoples’)? .Giving a grant towards the cost of repair is a good idea Passing some houses the stink would knock you down and our drinking water is not safe. If Phil Hogan manages to clean up our septic tank problem he will have done something very useful for the country.
Good move. Near time we got our filthy septic tank problem up to a proper standard, than continue to leak into our fragile environment.
No doubt the morbidly negative cohort will find this announcement another point of frantic criticism, despite their probably not even having a septic tank. Just septic sentiment regardless of what the Government is doing.
Nice hat fool!!!
I know where there is a septic tank that,s not reported
Where,s that
The dall
Eileen….me thinks they have your details already!
So true Mark…
So many people on here
commenting and have no worries about septic tanks…….
Apparently we own our property but the government own the minerals below( water,etc) …. Well I say let them look after the minerals under my septic tank.
This year alone we have paid €450 for maintenance and a new belt on our pure flow system.
I will never register my pure flow system, for our council told us exactly where we could put it, they have the
paper work…. Let them look it up
So if the effluent from your septic tank manages to seep into your drinking water supply (or a river etc.) what will you do then?
Council responsible for the planning permission passed the septic tank. Aisling your not suggesting the councils didn’t have a clue what they were passing are you?
The pig is back
“Minister Hogan said one of the most important aspects about functioning septic tanks is that people have clean water to drink” errrr sorry to have to tell you this big Phil but people dont drink any water from their septic tanks.
Problem is that your tank can leak into your water supply, and then you then end up literally drinking sh*t.
Couldn’t happen Noel after all the local county council would have granted planning permission for the septic tank. Your not suggesting that they didn’t inspect fully before granting permission? If they didn’t then they can pay for it.
That’s pretty much it, don’t think you can blame the homeowners on this, they played by the rules. Can’t blame Europe either, the idea of inspecting septic tanks for pollution is a valid one (and in any case, Europe is just demanding that we implement something we signed up to 30 odd years ago).
Blame those politicians who knew this was coming down the tracks and decided to pretend that everything was all right, just like the property crash. Who cares about sound policy when there’s short term popularity to be gained. There’s an election coming up after all.
Mike
What do you think causes the great scandals of cryptosporidium and other pollutants in our Galway public drinking water systems. Perhaps it was sabotage by the people of a Middle World or Fairies at the bottom of the garden! Grow up man.
Mostly poor planning by councils Michael J and the refusal to invest in infrastructure.
Interesting. The Fine Gael manifesto did promise financial help for the remediation of septic tanks. Subsequently though Phil siad there’d be no blank cheque. On Dec 19th Europe will decide how miuch we’ll be fined for not having put controls on waste water since 2006. We’ll hear whether Phil’s ‘risk based’ inspection will pass with Europe. 2 days time is it?
A report for the department of the environment in 2007 estimated that the total cost per septic tank will be between 7000 + 25000 euro with a total cost of 3 billion
Great! Make up a charge out of thin air and then create a grant for it. Genius*!!!
*for the purposes of this post Genius actually means completely idiotic!
Will owners who live outside the Republic be eligible for a grant? There are hundreds of such people.
Now that seems fair make him the minister for respite grants and were rocking grants for respite
Our septic tank won’t be running uphill thank god…. I’d be more worried about my neighbours septic tanks.
It’s not just a case of checking tanks out, they also need to check out where wells are situated in relation to all septic tanks and pureflow systems, I can tell you here and now some of them are back to back….
unitsiuniaround the area
This whole issue about septic tanks boils my clams. we have major problems with sewage polution in rural areas . some areas more than others.people need to except that the householder is responcible for their own waste in all its forms. if your system had broken down or no proper system was ever put in. you cannot blame anyone else for this.if you cut corners when building or leave bad tyres on your car and you crash and kill yourself or someone else.if the roof falls in and kills the dog or worse thats your fault and nobody elses. no more than the crap thats going on in ireland were trying to blame everyone else but ourselved. ff bought elections under bertie they set up the conditions for the developers to run amok. the banks through soft regulation again set up by bertie did what they do and poured money into a house of cards that was one failed deal from falling downs. nows whos to blame.one the sucessive govts that allowed it to happen. two we the people who allowed ourselves to be bought and got greedy. and three the international banks who funded our banks when they knew that it was all going to fall apart. so mostly the problem is ours. no more than the tanks. take responcibility for our own actions and maybe we may get back to an ireland that we can be proud of again.
Ho Ho Ho. Just another manoeuvre to entrap people not registered. Up to 4K yeah? That’ll be assistance of probably €10 to the sad fool hiding in the bushes. Like a septic tank himself he continues to be full of S**!
they are going to try and cod people again
Septic Phil going out on the rob
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