THE MOTHER OF ALL IRONIES
MIRIAM O’Callaghan did the ‘old question by proxy trick’ with mother-of-seven Margaret Cash on the wireless on Thursday.
She wanted to ask Margaret – whose kids were forced to sleep in a Garda station – if she should have had so many children seeing as how there were obvious affordability issues.
However, she wouldn’t dare be so crass and offensive as to just come out and ask that – straight up. No – Miriam explained that ‘some people’ might ask such a question. And then she asked it anyway.
The whole thing was laden with irony – Miriam a mother of eight asking a mother of seven if, in effect, she could afford to have had so many kids.
Irony aside, the question was dripping with elitism and risk. In 2016 the UK Centre for Economics and Business Research reckoned that it costs about €272,000 to raise a child in Old Blighty. We’d be safe in assuming it’s at least that here. So, is that what Miriam’s question by proxy was suggesting?
Before people bring children into this world they should produce a financial bond – €300,000 for one, and so on.
We should set up the Office for the Right to Have Children. It could be run by the taxman to ensure there’ll be no burden devolving on the taxpayer. See where this is going?
Kids are for rich people – folk with wherewithal. People without, can do without. The poor can die out. That’s the inevitable logic of class and elitism.
The question Miriam asked is utterly contemptible.