Irish Examiner displayed balance on braindead mother case

Fair dues to the Irish Examiner for attempting to give a fair hearing to the other side of the case of the braindead mother and her unborn child.

Why did the woman’s father have standing in the case and not the child’s father? She was in her 20s and looked forward to the birth of her child. According to a 2009 ruling, the male partner of an unmarried young lady only had visiting rights in regard to the unborn child. It is difficult to visit an unborn child.

All seven medical experts were unanimous in urging that the somatic support machine be turned off. All those were and at least two have expressed pro-abortion views. Who chose the seven medical experts?

Two previous cases were relied on as precedents, the English Bland case, and the Irish ward of court case [1996]. There have been developments in that area since then and cases where patients recovered from so-called “persistent vegetative states”.

The English phrase ‘as far as practicable’ in Article 40.3.3° is rendered ‘sa mhéid gur féidir é’ in the Irish version.

Another article of the Constitution where that phrase occurs is Article 40.3.1°. In a judgement some years back, a judge claimed that sa mhéid gur féidir é means the same as ‘as far as practicable’. It doesn’t. Sa mhéid gur féidir é means ‘in so far as it is possible’. Article 25.5.4° gives precedence to the Irish text of the Constitution in cases of conflict.

Séamas de Barra

Beaufort Downs

Rathfarnham Village

Dublin 14.