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Noone speaking at the committee's hearing yesterday Oireachtas.ie

Psychiatrist pulls out of Eighth Amendment Committee appearance

Professor Patricia Casey has accused the committee of being biased.

PSYCHIATRIST PROFESSOR PATRICIA Casey will no longer appear before the Oireachtas Eighth Amendment Committee.

Casey, a professor at UCD’s Department of Adult Psychiatry and a consultant psychiatrist at the Mater Hospital, was due to address the committee next week. She is also a patron of the Iona Institute, which has a pro-life stance.

Committee chairperson Senator Catherine Noone told TheJournal.ie a letter from Casey was circulated to members last night, saying she was “disappointed” by her decision.

Casey accused the committee of being biased and giving preference to pro-choice speakers.

Noone said no issues about Casey’s planned appearance had previously been raised by any TDs or senators on the committee.

Members Mattie McGrath TD and Senator Rónán Mullen have repeatedly accused the committee of having a pro-choice bias. They have said over 20 groups “pushing for abortion” have been invited to attend the committee’s hearings “while only a handful of pro-life people have been invited“.

Ahead of yesterday’s sitting, Mullen said “a few token changes” to the list of invitees being brought before the committee will do nothing to balance “the deep-seated bias that exists in the committee at present”.

“To cobble together some extra pro-life invitees as a late-stage window-dressing exercise would be cynical in the extreme, apart from being extremely disrespectful to the proposed invitees,” he added.

Noone has denied the committee is biased. At the start of yesterday’s session she asked anyone with concerns to address them to her directly and not to the media.

When Mullen criticised the amount of time members have to question the speakers, Noone said he often receives more time than others.

Committee vote 

Yesterday, three medical experts told the committee they believe the Eighth Amendment is not fit for purpose.

Dr Peter Boylan, chair of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “I don’t think the Constitution is the place to regulate medical practice. [The Eighth] has caused endless problems … You need to legislate.”

Last night, the committee voted to recommend that the Eighth Amendment should not be retained in full, meaning it will recommend a referendum be held.

Mullen and McGrath opposed the vote taking place, calling it a “farce”. They wanted the vote to be deferred until all witnesses have been heard.

Read: As it happened: ‘The Eighth has caused endless problems, you need to legislate’

Read: Dublin maternity hospital chief says Irish abortion patient died while flying home after termination

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12 Comments
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    Mute Dave Murray
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    Oct 19th 2017, 1:20 PM

    The Iona Institute? Enough said.

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    Mute meatyslaps
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    Oct 19th 2017, 1:32 PM

    @Dave Murray: If she believes it’s bias, why wouldn’t she go in to solve it? Pro-life speakers pulling out reduces the balance they supposedly want.

    It’s exactly like when Mullen and McGrath were complaining about not getting enough speaking time last week so, what do they do? They have a press conference while the Committee was still in session!

    It’s all a cynical ploy to invalidate the committee and it’s findings.

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    Mute Brinster
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    Oct 19th 2017, 1:29 PM

    Unfortunately this is teh “pro life” campaign setting the ground for what wil be a very devisive referendum.

    They are trying to de-legitimise this committee and the Citizens’ Convention.

    The point needs to be made continually and calmly – the fact that the majority of invitees tend to be “pro choice” is because this is the legitimate consensus of evidence-based human rights and health organisations.

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    Mute Karen Wellington
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    Oct 19th 2017, 1:35 PM

    Is it possible that the committee is just having a difficult time finding pro-life speakers who actually have something worth hearing to say? If you’re having a scientific debate belief based arguments that can’t be backed up with fact don’t really have a place.

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    Mute meatyslaps
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    Oct 19th 2017, 1:38 PM

    @Karen Wellington: That’s it exactly. The Pro-life side don’t tend to rely on scientific facts for their arguments in keeping the 8th, but emotive scare mongering.

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    Mute Gareth Wogan
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    Oct 19th 2017, 1:21 PM

    Patron of iona institute. Get the boat ffs!!

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    Mute Clancy
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    Oct 19th 2017, 1:29 PM

    And I’m taking my ball!
    So there!

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    Mute Honeybee
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    Oct 19th 2017, 1:29 PM

    In fairness no matter which side of the debate you support, there should be a balance of speakers and views presented, if the committee does not honour this precedent then any judgement arising from their decisions will be tainted with impartiality, the whole concept of the committee was to listen, learn and evaluate based on presentations from all sides to the debate.

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    Mute Father Hody Commody
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    Oct 19th 2017, 1:34 PM

    @Honeybee: But the committee isn’t stopping Casey from appearing. She is actually creating the imbalance.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Oct 19th 2017, 1:34 PM

    @Honeybee: what do you make of someone saying it’s biased against her side and then not representing her side when given the opportunity?

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    Mute meatyslaps
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    Oct 19th 2017, 1:36 PM

    @Honeybee: I think it’s more relevant that you get experts and qualified persons on the subject matter to come and speak (which surprise surprise, understand the 8th is not fit for purpose) rather than enforcing a ‘balance’, by inviting some pro-life hack with no real qualifications.

    Of course, a psychiatrist would have been able to give a very relevant contribution if she chose to appear. But most of the pro-life groups are not made up qualified people.

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    Mute Mary Lyons
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    Oct 19th 2017, 1:25 PM

    You say biased because the majority did not agree with you! Looks now like you just don’t want to be on the losing side! Very childish indeed!

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