Dear Sir... Readers' Views (20/06/16)
Danger of changes to Constitution
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adjudicating on a case taken against Ireland involving the late termination in Liverpool in 2011 of a pregnancy involving a foetus with congenital heart defects cited complicated grief and unresolved trauma as well as was the ‘pain and shame’ of travelling abroad for a procedure that cost the mother €3,000.
The UNHRC has declared that Ireland should amend its law on voluntary termination of pregnancy, including, if necessary, changing our Constitution, to ensure compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This Covenant was ratified by Ireland in 1989, almost three years before the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution was passed by the electorate in November 1992.
Childrens’ Minister Katherine Zappone advises that ‘a significant cultural change’ is now necessary in regard to the Eighth Amendment. But the Minister does not elaborate on what change she is aspiring to, nor does she venture an opinion on the balance to be struck between individual rights and social rights.
It is noteworthy that the UN Human Rights Council in September 2014 expressed very grave concern about the high number of teenage pregnancies in Chile which, they stated, endangered the health of very young mothers and interrupted their education. The UN considered that the births to teenage mothers place an economic and care burden on the girls’ families, while most of the fathers’ take no responsibility for the child. The remedy proposed was that abortion should be decriminalised in Chile for girls under 18 to avert danger to the physical and mental health and to enable them remain in education.
The cultural change that Minister Zappone desires could well place our Constitution in a subsidiary position to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights making our sovereign State answerable only to the 47 member Council that includes a singificant number of Council Members who have been cited for scandalous and outrageous breaches of human rights against children and who have neither political accountably nor moral affinity with the Irish electorate.
Let’s give Donald a Sig Sauer salute
As our Government seems incapable of deciding the appropriate method of greeting The Donald when he visits, might I suggest a 21 gun salute using the Sig Sauer MCX carbine? Another difficult protocol problem solved.
Extend summer break for panels
Perhaps it would be appropriate for the Cork GAA County Board, out of consideration for their loyal fans, to send the Cork County Senior Hurling and Football Panels on an extended summer vacation, until the “qualifiers are over.
‘Nodding donkeys’ on County Board
The column by Mike Quirke in Wednesday’s Irish Examiner is hugely appropriate. The heading is Cork has a huge natural oil reserve they just don’t know how to drill for it. He refers to spending €78 million on a stadium while the county teams have no home. Anyone who has seen the oil fields in the USA in the flesh or on film will observe the peculiar old fashioned pumps. These are known by everyone as “nodding donkeys.” They are to me ideal representations of the Cork County Board. We have a shower of “nodding donkeys” following the chief stallion (ass).
In nature the young stallion will lock horns with the stallion and take over the tribe and send the old stallion into exile.
However in Cork the “nodding donkeys” will aid the old stallion and chase off the young(ish) pretender in defiance of the natural order.
It is time the Cork clubs sent representatives with vision and balls to do their county proud and send the “nodding donkeys” into exile along with the old stallion and his stable mates.
PDforra and its enlisted ‘personnel’
After reading the article entitled ‘Grave concerns over toxic waste dump clean-up delay’, (Irish Examiner, June 16) in which it is stated — “PDforra, which represents enlisted men in the navy,...” I am left with a puzzling question — does PDforra represent any women in the navy?
Surely in the new Irish spirit of equality and a quick perusal of the PDforra website would suggest enlisted personnel is more appropriate?
Scheme rounding on consumers
Since the “Rounding scheme” was introduced in October 2015 (rounding your bill up or down to the nearest five cents) my grocery shopping has become the most negative experience. I am constantly overcharged by two and sometimes one cent, I only recall a couple of occasions where I gained one or two cents. I work very hard for my money and I greatly value every cent of it, so I ask for my change back, only to be ridiculed, embarrassed, and patronised by the cashier. There were times that I have walked away without my change, because I did not have the time or patience to deal with the stress of it. When last week a cashier refused outright to return my change, stating — “this is now the system”, I decided to find out my rights. I talked to the Department of Finance and the Central Bank and the following are the most important findings.
- It is absolutely untrue that one and two cent coins are being phased out
- There is no end date for this scheme
- The participation of the consumer is entirely voluntary, your change must be given to you if you ask for it
- Your one or two cents will go directly into the pockets of wealthy multinational company owners
- The consumer is entitled to report any outlet that refuses to return the change
I call on the Department of Finance and the Central Bank to review this scheme, to correctly inform the public and to instruct participating retailers to politely return the correct change to consumers. In the meantime I will hand over a sign to every cashier, which reads — “I do not participate in the rounding scheme, please return my correct change without comments, without embarrassing me and without time delay.
Is it fair to quote elderly people?
I was interested to read your article on opposition to the naming of a building in UCC after James Watson, of Watson and Crick fame.
It is interesting to note that the quotations attributed to James Watson are almost all recent ones, after he had reached his eightieth birthday.
Doesn’t it make you wonder whether it’s fair to publicly quote people who are at an age where their mental faculties might be beginning to fade somewhat? The recently published sayings of Prince Phillip also comes to mind.
Massacre can only be blamed on availability of guns
Once again we are in a time of mourning for innocent lives lost in yet another gun massacre in the US.
The main problem is the easy availability of guns. This is due to the gun culture which is sustained by the many groupings and interests in America — the NRA, the Ku Klux Klan, Black Power, etc. Of these the NRA is the most prominent and challenging. They regard themselves as “the tireless defenders” of the Second Amendment and somehow have enormous political and societal clout. When confronted, their defence is as bamboozling — witness on radio lately a “gunman” saying it’s not the gun that’s the problem, it’s the bullets that cause the harm and also, it’s not the gun it’s the individual firing the gun is the problem. What the NRA is effectively saying is widespread availability of guns is essential to rid the country of “bad” people, regardless of how many innocent lives it takes to do so.
When is all this slaughter going to stop? There are vested interests promoting gun culture and making vast fortunes thereby. There is also a paranoia among residents (encouraged no doubt by the gun makers) causing them to buy weapons for personal safety. On the other hand it could be argued that “the home of the brave” is still only emerging from the recent Wild West period where guns were all the go. The US is a relatively young conglomeration of states and maybe it has teething problems, which, perish the thought, could take hundreds of years to settle.
Europe was in a similar position for hundreds if not thousands of years, with disparate interests, groupings, clans, etc, fighting among themselves and with outsiders before only recently settling down to a reasonably civilised state, without the gun. How long will it take to get over these growing pains in America?
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