Vote to uphold our values and integrity
This is because he "could not accept that it is desirable or just to introduce a change that will determine that two children, born in the same maternity ward on the same day, will enjoy different legal and constitutional rights."
This agency is concerned that he is most probably right. We provide support to people with HIV. A baby born with HIV in one of our hospitals may not have the same right to a life if s/he has to move with non-national parents to a country without treatments for HIV.
While maternity hospitals need support in the quest for improved services, we need to accept that healthcare problems require healthcare solutions and not constitutional amendments likely to institutionalise discrimination.
In our work we meet with some of those people made faceless by statistical and political debates. They bring wonderfully fresh perspectives, skills, enthusiasm and humour to our lives.
Rather than being a drain or a contamination of our cultural values, we feel enriched by their presence. In many ways they embody the historic Irish ethos, the traditional céad míle fáilte, far more than the greed and individualism which is now permeating our island.
We need to vote no, not to be charitable to others, but to maintain our own sense of integrity and coming of age as a nation.
Deirdre Seery, Director,
Alliance Sexual Health Centre,
16, Peters Street,
Cork.
