Daniel McConnell: Being offended is price we pay for living in a free society

We have suffered far too often from groupthink in this country and events at an Oireachtas committee meeting on the matter of surrogacy betrayed the very liberalism that many people proclaim to extol

Senator Sharon Keogan who said that it is her belief that surrogacy was "harmful, exploitative, and unethical" and "not in the best interest of the child". Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

In The Friends of Voltaire, writer Evelyn Beatrice Hall used the phrase: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" as an illustration of the great philosopher’s beliefs.

Often misattributed to Voltaire himself, the power of that phrase nonetheless continues to resonate and, I would argue, has never been more important. This is because we live in a new age of intolerance.

No longer is it the chokehold of clericalism which poisoned so much of public life in this country for the last century but, in its place, a new form of reductionism has become the mainstream in the form of the liberal agenda.

Those who claim to argue for equality and preach tolerance have become the new high priests and priestesses of what we can and cannot say and do. People get shut down, cancelled, and destroyed for holding alternative views which do not conform to this new liberal dogma.

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All in the name of being offended. Causing offence is not allowed in the new “liberal” autocracy we find ourselves in, supposedly. People are not allowed to have strong views and will be shouted down by others who claim to speak from a morally superior position which they demand must be honoured and obeyed.

It is becoming stifling.  An example of this played out at an Oireachtas committee meeting this week on the matter of surrogacy.

The committee, normally chaired by Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore but on this occasion by Sinn Féin’s Kathleen Funchion, was hearing from a number of witnesses who were speaking about their experience of surrogacy and their desire for progress on this issue in Ireland.

But during the meeting things escalated when Independent senator Sharon Keogan began her contribution. Ms Keogan stated that it is her belief that surrogacy was "harmful, exploitative, and unethical" and "not in the best interest of the child".

"I don't believe it is everyone's right to have a child,” she said. "It is a privilege to give birth." Ms Keogan said it was important that the surrogate mother was not "airbrushed out of the process".

She said she wholeheartedly objected to what she called the commercialisation of the human child and the regulation of women to the status of simply incubators or wombs. She asked the witnesses why other countries have not moved to allow "commercial surrogacy".

Almost immediately, Ms Keogan was challenged by witnesses and her fellow committee members alike for what she said.

In response, before addressing Ms Keogan’s questions, Elaine Cohalan of the Assisted Human Reproductive Coalition, appearing to rely on prepared notes, told members of the committee to "think about your responsibility to lead the debate in a respectful, dignified way, around surrogacy" and to be aware that their words matter.

Ms Keogan interrupted and sought to have Ms Cohalan answer her question, which drew Fine Gael senator Mary Seery Kearney into the discussion, who said: “She is entitled to respond to your inflammatory language”.

Keogan retorted: "Committees are a place for a debate. If there is no critical reasoning or questioning, we could write the report now, with no dissenting voice. That is the value of free speech."

Ms Funchion came in as committee chair and said it was not appropriate to interrupt the witness. She said that while people are entitled to their personal views, she would not be standing over any meeting where people are shown disrespect to witnesses.

In the most direct exchange, senator Lynn Ruane accused Ms Keogan of being "bigoted" in her views, adding she should "check her Christian values".

When Ms Keogan took issue with the term 'bigot', saying: “I am not [a bigot]”, Ms Ruane retorted by saying: “I think, you’d find, you are”. “You are crude and cold and it is not OK, and you are the same in the [Seanad] Chamber,” said Ms Ruane.

Ms Funchion suspended the meeting, saying there were people who had been waiting for years for legal issues around surrogacy to be properly examined. "Their children have grown up without it," she said.

Ms Keogan insisted she was being respectful in her dealings with the witnesses, albeit from another perspective, but Ms Ruane responded sharply: “No, you are not, that’s not respectful”. Ms Seery Kearney accused her of making sensationalist statements.

Ms Funchion accused Ms Keogan of repeatedly being disrespectful at times in recent meetings, but Ms Keogan said she vehemently disagreed with that statement.

Sinn Fein spokesperson on Children, Kathleen Funchion, at one point of the Oireachtas committee meeting on surrogacy accused Ms Keogan of repeatedly being disrespectful at times in recent meetings. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Then Ms Keogan told committee witness Gearoid Kenny Moore, who, with his husband, had twins through surrogacy, that he was "extremely lucky to be here today", which led to further condemnation from other committee members.

The meeting was immediately suspended.

Like a schoolchild being scolded, when the meeting resumed, Ms Funchion sought to call on Ms Keogan to apologise to the witness who “she unfairly singled out”.

Before Ms Keogan had even finished one sentence seeking to explain herself, the committee chairwoman was in on top of her, quoting Standing Order 113 relating to members being “grossly disorderly”, telling her that she was being expelled from the meeting.

When Ms Keogan claimed she was the subject of vicious, personalised attacks and that she would not “stoop to that level”, Ms Funchion suspended the meeting again.

Once Ms Keogan had left and the meeting got back under way, Ms Funchion apologised to the witnesses for the events that had just transpired.

She said of course there would be, in a parliament, differing views, but that they needed to be expressed in a respectful manner.

Ms Ruane then came in and sought to offer another apology to the witnesses for her role in escalating tensions in the meeting.

“Me challenging the language probably escalated it,” she said. "It’s hard not to challenge it, but I also see the role I played in escalating that very quickly, but I do apologise for any hurt caused."

The bottom line is that Ms Keogan’s views may be off the wall. They may be offensive. They may even be abhorrent to a majority of people, but in a democracy, she had a right to be heard.

And the simple truth, from my perspective, is that she wasn’t heard. The true measure of tolerance and equity is to debate and deconstruct the arguments, bogus or otherwise, that are being presented by your opponents.

By making it personal, and accusing her of bigotry and the rest, Ms Ruane and the others betrayed the very liberalism they proclaim to extol.

Being offended is the price we pay for living in a free society. Ms Keogan may have been offensive, insensitive, and crass in her commentary, but for her, it is her stated belief and unpalatable as it may be, she should have been able to have her say.

Independent senator Lynn Ruane: “Me challenging the language probably escalated it.”

We have suffered far too often from groupthink in this country, both in the high institutions of State and in our public discourse in recent times. Indeed, the curse of groupthink was a primary cause of Ireland’s financial downfall in the 2008-2011 period.

As Hall said of Voltaire, I am not defending what Keogan had to say, but I certainly will defend her right to say it.