Response to Cllr Bree
Madam Editor,
Re. call by Cllr Bree for a date to be set for the Referendum on the 8th Amendment.
In the interests of fairness and balance I would like to respond to his views.
Cllr Bree argued that the 8th Amendment was legally unnecessary and anti woman. What about the baby,about which he has not one mention of in the interview.
Cllr Bree has championed the rights of many causes in his political career. I now ask him to stand up for the most basic of all rights i.e. to life of the most innocent and vulnerable living human being in the womb. The right to live is not negotiable by direct killing and a moral absolute.
It is outrageous that politicians in the Oireachtas Committee voted for abortion up to 12 weeks. What if their Mothers’ had decided to implement this stark choice ???.
The 5th commandment is Thou shalt not kill. It is immoral and unjust to deprive an unborn but nevertheless a living child from a valuable future. At 7 weeks of development the individual has all its facial parts, arms, legs, skin, bones, organs and muscles.
Faye Wattleton the longest serving President of the world’s largest abortion provider as far back as 1997 argued that ‘’everyone already knows that abortion kills.’’
About 1 out of 300 humans in the UK are killed by abortion each year whereas 1 in about 1,250 of Irish human beings are aborted each year.
This is a saving of 950 lives each year since 1983 which amounts to approx. 31,000 lives saved by the 8th Amendment.
Cllr Bree refers to access to basic health care when he really means access to abortion.
He says we live in a more enlightened times. I would say moral standards have dropped and promiscuity is much more common now. He also criticises church and state.
Surely he knows the church provided education, and other social services long before the state got involved.
Poverty, promiscuity and pressure from boyfriends and family are the main drivers for abortion. Most pro-choice people say that they are in favour of abortion but would not have one themselves. Why inflict it on fellow citizens ? Politicians would morally serve the people better by focussing on the factors that encourage abortion rather than sacrifice the unborn child by direct killing. The innocent, vulnerable child in the womb has no lawyers, jury or judge to defend its right to live and breathe except the 8th Amendment now.
Does he want to bring back the death penalty again but only specifically for the child in the womb ? Coursing clubs will go anywhere, any time in the winter season to find hares for their so-called “sporting” fixtures.
But do they have to encroach on the scenic beauty of our off shore and inland islands? Island Eddy in Galway Bay gets a visit each year, its idyllic and peaceful hills and fields raided for the fleet-footed runners. Hog Island off the Clare Coast likewise.
Rathlin has been spared the attention of the hare catchers in recent years after islanders literally chased away the net-men a decade ago in a dramatic display of community spirit. Unfortunately, the hares of another little scenic gem lacked such a protective shield. Oyster Island is a long thin land mass that nestles between the headlands of Rosses Point and Strandhill in County Sligo.
It is renowned for its old lighthouse and attractive cottages. On January 2nd this year, hare catchers were seen by locals scouring the island in search of bait for an upcoming coursing fixture.
Every year their appearance provokes some level of unease among people who object to hare coursing.
This year, however, the coursers managed to offend almost the entire community at Rosses Point. A search was in progress for a missing person when the hare catchers arrived. Almost every adult and young person in the locality; backed by volunteers from nearby villages, were out searching and many of them couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the net-men. Some posted messages on facebook denouncing the hare catchers, who were heard shouting as they fanned out across the island.
Apart from the insensitive nature of the Oyster Island incident, is it not time that our beautiful islands were declared off-limits to coursing clubs?
It’s bad enough that they can, thanks to a State license, snatch hares from fields, forests and mountainsides nationwide. I hope that hare coursing will itself some day become a crime. In the meantime there should at least be some parts of the national territory where hares can find refuge and protection so that they can live out their short humble lives in peace.
Thanking you, John Fitzgerald