Dana’s sincerity is beyond dispute
Mr Mullen is a long-time supporter of the pro-life campaign, and is on close terms with its leadership. He was also a strong supporter of Dana until she refused, on pro-life grounds, to back the Government’s last abortion referendum proposal.
He takes for granted that Dana’s supporters are conservative generally, not just socially conservative. In my experience, there are many pro-life, pro-family voters who are left of centre on practically every other issue.
Mr Mullen complains about how some of Dana’s supporters were kept ‘out of the loop’ after her electoral campaigns. Is he referring to blow-in, self-appointed ‘handlers?’ Dana’s biggest asset is that she is still seen to be transparently sincere, and even those who are opposed to some of her stated positions respect her for that.
It is completely unworthy of Mr Mullen to ascribe base motives to Dana for not going along with the pro-life Yes side in the last abortion referendum. Dana was indeed kept out of the loop as to the contents of the Government’s last abortion proposal until some days before it was published.
The pro-life campaign must explain to pro-lifers why they didn’t trust Dana enough to inform her of the contents as soon as they themselves got sight of it, as every dog and devil in the country seems to have been informed of it before she was.
As to Dana not networking with other politicians, the truth is that she saw the way the EU was going on the question of funding for embryonic stem-cell research. She tried to warn people, but was ignored by many of those claiming to be pro-life. By the time the Government were selling the pass on such funding, they had identified powerful allies in the Irish Catholic church, and in the pro-life campaign, who would support what was clearly a sham abortion proposal.
As to Dana losing touch with her political base, the fact is that more voted for her this time than the last time. The constituency was bigger, and Sinn Féin did remarkably well. She lost by about 3,000 votes.
As to President McAleese having cornered the market for traditional values, Mr Mullen doesn’t seem to have read Ray Mac Mánais’s official Irish language biography of the president, ‘Máire Mhic Ghiolla Íosa: Beathaisnéis’ (Cló Iar-Chonnachta 2003). There she is reported as having been opposed to the position of the pro-life campaign in 1992. The president, in fact, favours abortion when it is claimed that the mother’s life is at risk.
When she took communion in the Church of Ireland’s Christ Church, Cardinal Connell at the time described her action as a ‘sham.’
What precisely then does Mr Mullen mean by saying that President McAleese has cornered the market for ‘traditional values?’
He and the pro-life campaign need to cultivate the virtue of sincerity, and overcome their weakness for passing political fashions, strokes and shams.
Séamas de Barra
83 Beaufort Downs
Rathfarnham
Dublin 14
