Abortion, Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, Politics, fine gael, labour, sinn fein

Abortion, Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, Politics, fine gael, labour, sinn fein

Peadar Toibin TD has stood firm in his position to protect unborn children, however, his proposed Amendment, to remove the 'suicide clause', was voted down. This clause effectively leaves the determination of the unborn child's life or death in the hands of psychologists and psychiatrists, two 'professions' that has shown themselves time and again to be able to reach polar conclusions in relation to the same case.  

Minister of State Lucinda Creighton has renewed her call for abortion time limits to be introduced where a foetus is viable.

In an amendment that she is expected to vote against the Government on and lose the Fine Gael party whip and her job, Ms Creighton said she wanted to protect viable life and bring in limitations on when terminations could be carried out.

“It would actually allay the genuine concerns of many of our citizens,” she said during the report stage debate on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, which resumed this evening.

“We know that in the vast majority of jurisdictions around the world where there are abortion regimes in place, far more liberal regimes of the type I hope we never see in this country, they do still enforce gestationsal limits, term limits for carrying out abortions,” the Dublin South East TD said. “I think that this is the minimum our citizens deserve.”

Two two amendments are currently under discussion in the debate.

The session began hours after the High Court refused to grant an injunction aimed at stopping provisions of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill being voted into law.

Labour TD Roisin Shortall also introduced amendments on gestational time limits and said it was unacceptable that there were none in the Bill. She said concern about the issue had been raised by Master of the Rotunda Sam Coulter Smith but there was no serious attempt made to address those concerns.

Fianna Fail health spokesman Billy Kelleher said he would oppose legislation if he thought for a moment if he somehow though that a baby at 34 weeks would be taken from the womb and destroyed.

Mr Kelleher said that if they talked about gestational limits, “we are pitting the life of the woman against the life of the baby” and “that would be repugnant to me and to the Constitution”.

He said the overriding issue at stake was the real and substantial threat to the life of the woman. “We cannot intervene to terminate the pregnancy because it would be in conflict with the legislation if we put in gestational limits.”

Minister of State for Health Alex White said there was no answering Mr Kelleher’s point.

Fine Gael TD Peter Mathews, who has already lost the party whip on the legislation, supported term limits. He said termination at 12 weeks was just as repugnant as a termination later in pregnancy.

In response, Ms Creighton said it was putting a time limit on the destruction on the life of the unborn and a clear obligation and onus on the medical profession to save the life of the unborn.

Minister for Health James Reilly and Mr Mathews clashed at the start of the debate this evening.

Mr Mathews asked the Minister to define what the term “as far as practicable” meant in terms of the medical situations that could arise under it.

Dr Reilly replied that it was an acceptable legal term which was well understood. “It is not clear to me,” said Mr Mathews.

Dr Reilly replied: “That is fine; you are neither legal nor a doctor.”

Mr Mathews replied that he was “a citizen”.

Earlier, the Minister moved a series of amendments which, he said, gave clarity to the medical definition of terms “in good faith” and reasonable opinion” in the Bill.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said there should be trust in doctors, adding that the amendments were just a concession to certain people who wanted to hold back and frustrate the legislation’s purpose which was to allow for a termination where there was a threat to the woman’s life.

Over 100 of the 165 amendments to the Bill have yet to be debated during the Report stage.

The Dáil is due to adjourn the abortion debate by midnight regardless of whether or not it has been passed. Taoiseach Enda Kenny said this morning if the Bill can conclude today, “so much the better”.

So far, two votes have been taken but neither relate to the amendments proposing a “pathway to care” plan for pregnant women with suicidal intent tabled by Ms Creighton. She voted with the Government on those two amendments at 2am and at 5am.

The High Court ex parte application was made by Jane Murphy, with an addresss at Milltown, Dublin 14 this afternoon and is expected to appeal Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns’ refusal to the Supreme Court.

She was accompanied in court by former MEP Kathy Sinnott and Mark McCrystal. In intended proceedings against the Taoiseach, the Minister for Health and the Government, Ms Murphy sought injunctions “to prevent the respondents usurping the will of the Irish people on the day of Thursday 11th of July 2013”.

The application stated the intention was to prevent the Government including two provisions in the Bill currently before the Oireachtas and also to prevent the vote on that Bill.

Mr Justice Kearns said he was satisfied he had no jurisdiction to grant any such relief. This matter was before the legislature and the court, under the doctrine of the separation of powers, had no entitlement to deal with it. He did not believe the court, at this stage of the matter, had any entitlement to interfere.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said this morning that if the President referred the Bill to the Supreme Court it would be “the right decision”. Many parts of the Bill would be challenged by people coming from different perspectives, he said. “If he refers it, it can just be either cleared or struck down once and for all with no further challenges. If he did I think that would be the right decision. But that’s entirely his prerogative not mine,” he told RTÉ Radio.

Earlier today Mr Kenny defended the late overnight sitting in the Dáil. He said there were “some very good contributions” and it was “no harm that it went to 5am”.

However, Fianna Fáil leader Michael Martin described the organisation of the overnight debate as “shambolic” and “lamentable”.

The Labour Party was thrown into disarray early this morning by the shock defection of its Clare TD Michael McNamara in a vote .

In dramatic scenes just before the debate on the Bill was adjourned, Mr McNamara voted against the Government on an amendment tabled by the technical group which called for abortions to be allowed in cases where there were fatal foetal abnormalities or inevitable miscarriages.

However, the party maintained later that Mr McNamara would not lose the whip as he had made a “genuine mistake” and had pressed the wrong button. Tánaiste and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore was not in the Dáil for the vote as he is abroad on Government business.

Following the announcement yesterday by two Mayo TDs John O’Mahony and Michelle Mulherin that they would support the Bill, the other TD whose voting intentions were in doubt - John Paul Phelan of Carlow-Kilkenny - also confirmed to the Dáil at 1.30am that he too would be supporting the legislation despite having misgivings about the Bill.

His confirmation that he would support the Government - which was widely expected - has left a total of five Fine Gael TDs at odds with the party on this Bill. Besides Ms Creighton, the other TDs are Mr Mathews, Brian Walsh, Billy Timmins and Terence Flanagan.

The Labour Party had, until Mr McNamara’s vote, shown a strong party discipline and had consciously maintained a slightly background stance, because of the sensitivities of Fine Gael’s position.

The defection of Mr McNamara, even if Labour manages to repair its hand and reverse it, has damaged that show of unity and also dampened what was considered a successful effort by the Fine Gael leadership to contain its defections to a maximum of five TDs.

The debate on the report stage of the Bill commenced at 11.30am yesterday and continued for a cumulative total of 14 hours after the Taoiseach said he wished the Dáil to complete its deliberation of it by this morning. However, with no guillotine in place, Government Chief Whip Paul Kehoe initially announced an extension until midnight, and then until 5am.

The Bill was scheduled to transfer to the Seanad today but that will not now happen until tomorrow at the earliest.

The first substantive vote - to reject an amendment tabled by Peadar Tóibín of Sinn Féin to remove the suicide clause in its entirety - was carried by 135 to 24 votes.

Many Independents voted with the Government but Maureen O’Sullivan, Michael Lowry, Michael Healy-Rae and Mattie McGrath voted against.

The vote was taken after more than eight hours of debate on a group of 38 amendments from a number of TDs, dealing with the suicide clause, where termination is permissible to avoid suicide.

Meath East byelection, Results, turnout, Helen McEntee TD, Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Labour, Sinn Fein

Meath East byelection, Results, turnout, Helen McEntee, Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Labour, Sinn Fein

Fine Gael candidate Helen McEntee is over 6 per centage points ahead of Thomas Byrne after tallies of 86 per cent of boxes in the Meath East byelection.

The latest tallies show a poor result for Labour’s Eoin Holmes with just 4 per cent of the vote.

With 96 of 111 boxes open, cross-party tallymen put Ms McEntee at 39.34 per cent, Mr Byrne at 33.26 per cent , Sinn Fein candidate Darren O’Rourke at 12.48 per cent, Eoin Holmes of Labour 4.05 per cent and others ( including Ben Gilroy of Direct Democracy Ireland) at 10.62 per cent.

Minister for Communications and Labour TD Pat Rabbitte reacted to the Party’s very poor showing in the polls.

It seemed that Labour had “ taken the brunt of the negative reaction. Labour voters didn't come out. They are making a protest. We have to listen to what they're saying, but we inherited the biggest mess left to a government since 1922,” he told RTE radio.

Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty said he was “very satisfied” with the “substantial increase” in the vote for his Party.

“I wouldn't be surprised if we don't poll stronger when all boxes are opened,” he told RTE Radio

Vying for fourth place with Labour is Ben Gilroy of new party Direct Democracy Ireland, who is performing better than anticipated.

Mr Gilroy said it was an “extraordinary” result. “We are doing extremely well because most people never even heard of us...we are the dark horse,” he told RTE Radio.

Counting got underway at about 9am. Heavy snowfalls and unseasonally cold weather contributed to a low turnout for the Meath East byelection with fewer than 35 per cent of eligible constituents believed to have voted.

As polling stations closed at 9pm, some sources predicted the turnout would not be much more than 30 per cent. Fine Gael sources said the figure might be a little higher, closer to 40 per cent.

The last comparable election was the byelection held in the former constituency of Meath in 1995 where turnout was 41 per cent. That election was won by Shane McEntee, whose death last December created the vacancy in the three-seat constituency.

While voting levels for this byelection were not expected to be high, the overnight falls of snow which left some roads in the country in a hazardous condition led to exceptionally low turnout in the first two to three hours of polling. By mid-afternoon, the weather had brightened but polling stations were still reporting turnouts of 15 per cent cent or lower.

The low turnout means parties will be relying on their core vote. Fine Gael’s Helen McEntee, daughter of the late Mr McEntee, and Fianna Fáil’s Thomas Byrne are joint favourites with bookmakers. Sinn Féin’s Darren O’Rourke is also expected to increase his party’s share of the vote significantly.

Candidates:

Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

Ben Gilroy (Direct Democracy Ireland)

Eoin Holmes (Labour)

Charlie Keddy (independent)

Mick Martin (Independent)

Séamus McDonagh (Workers Party);

Helen McEntee TD (Fine Gael)

Gearóid O’Brien (Independent);

Sean O Buachalla (Greens );

Darren O’Rourke (Sinn Fein)

Jim Tallon (Independent).

27/3/2013

Helen McEntee is expected to Top The Poll in the Meath East By-Election taking as much as a third of the vote with Fianna Fail following home in second place.

Voter turnout is low so far in the Meath East by-election. There are 11 candidates for the seat. Snow and weather conditions in general are impacting on early turnout, however, the evening is expected to see an overall turnout of approximately 45%. The fact that polls are closing two hours early is not expected to paly any significant role.

The general feeling talking to voters is that Helen McEntee has earned her stripes in the community and is an able politician. The poor taste of Fianna Fail being in power for 14 years remains and Byrne is not expected to surpass Helen McEntee.

One local said:

“Mc Entee is favourite 1/10 on and the rest have not left the stall”.

Some polling stations are reporting a turnout of just 3% with others reaching a high of close to 8%. The average seems to be around 5%.

In the southern half of the constituency turnout is lower than usual with the bad weather and later opening time for polling stations meaning many commuters did not vote before leaving for work.

It's expected there will be an increase in the number of voters through lunchtime and especially in the evening.

How big that rush actually is will depend on the weather and voter engagement in this by-election.

Polling stations remain open until 9pm with the counting of votes beginning 12 hours later.

Meath east byelection, enda Kenny, Helen mcentee, fine gael, sinn fein, finna fail, labour, Garda

Helen McEntee to take Gold as Kenny Roasted by local Garda

Taoiseach Enda Kenny was involved in a heated exchange with an off-duty garda over public sector pay cuts during a whistle-stop tour of the Meath East constituency yesterday.

The incident took place in a supermarket in Ratoath where the Taoiseach was canvassing with Fine Gael candidate Helen McEntee ahead of tomorrow's byelection to fill the seat left vacant by the death of her father Shane McEntee in December.

The garda, who did not disclose his name, expressed anger at Government plans to cut payments to frontline staff as part of the revised Croke Park agreement.

On the eve of polling, Ms McEntee remains the favourite to retain the seat for Fine Gael which won two of the three seats in the constituency in the last general election.

However, Fianna Fáil candidate Thomas Byrne has confidently predicted he can regain the seat he lost in 2011 when his party took only 19.6 per cent of the vote, compared to Fine Gael’s 40.9 per cent.

Similarly, Darren O’Rourke of Sinn Féin is confident his party’s support will rise significantly from the 8.9 per cent it received in 2011.

Much attention will focus on the performance of Labour candidate Eoin Holmes. If the junior Coalition party’s support drops into single digits from the 21 per cent it garnered in 2011, it is likely to put a strain on the authority of Labour leader and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore.

In yesterday’s supermarket confrontation, the garda, a father of three, told Mr Kenny that his shift work meant he often did not see his children when they were off school.

“I am entitled to an unsocial hours allowance,” he said, saying the €15.06 allowance currently being paid worked out at about €7 after tax.”

The debate between Mr Kenny and the garda lasted for almost 10 minutes and attracted the attention of dozens of shoppers.

The garda recounted how he had taken his sick daughter to Tallaght hospital on St Patrick’s Day where doctors, nurses, and catering and cleaning staff were all working.

“You are turning around and cutting their wages and taking other wages including my own which I feel I am entitled to,” he said. “It’s not my fault the economy collapses but I feel I’m being singled out,” he said.

Mr Kenny robustly defended Government policies saying “every public servant from the top down” had taken pay cuts. He criticised the Garda Representative Association for leaving the pay negotiations. “Fire officers and prison officers were all able to get a settlement and stay on the pitch,” he said.

On the overall situation, Mr Kenny referred to the public expenditure deficit which he described as very tough and challenging: “Do you think it’s going to sort itself out? You're a guard, which is a very important job. You’re an intelligent man. Who do you think will pay for the services?”

Both shook hands at the end with Mr Kenny praising the garda for fulfilling an important service in society, and the garda saying: “We will agree to disagree.”