Hypocritical of FG to collect at church gates

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore closed the Irish embassy to the Vatican for financial reasons, and a friend of mine left Mass at his local parish church to find Labour party members collecting at the church gates. My friend was livid at the audacity of Labour, because, after a long campaign against the Catholic Church, here they were, robbing Peter to pay themselves.

Last weekend, another friend, over from England for a family wedding, was accosted by Fine Gael collectors as he came out of a parish church. He had to be dragged into a waiting car to avoid confronting them.

Enda Kenny constantly reminds clerics of child sex abuse, and this week the Government parties legalised abortion, removing the basic right to life of unborn children. Kenny’s carping about the Church quashing dissent rankles when he won’t allow his own TDs to follow their consciences. He excommunicated them from the party for voting against the bill. The so-called Catholic Taoiseach has monopolised so-called Catholic practice. I distracted my friend from his anger by suggesting that the Government parties could raise more funds outside open-air pubs, at weekend gigs, or even at the races, but he said: “Imagine calling this abortion law a protection of life when it is the very opposite? For sheer deceit, brass-neck arrogance and hypocrisy, this Irish government beats all competition.”