Last night I attended the GLEN briefing on the Civil Partnership Bill, hosted by the Cork Gay Project and L.inc. It was a very interesting meeting and I certainly learned a lot! We were given a 3 booklets on the Bill and I am currently working my way through them and they are fascinating. The speakers were Eoin Collins, Director of Policy Change at Glen and Dr Fergus Ryan, head of Law at DIT. A few things struck me...
I love Cork and I am very patriotic about my home town, and events on Saturday made me love it even more. At the weekend my boyfriend was up from Kerry and he stayed around town on Saturday and we met up for lunch. At all times I was with him in town we were holding hands. Did we get a reaction? No In fact most people registered no reaction especially Irish people. A few people stared and in...
Every time there is an election I always give Fianna Fail a look to see if I would give them a preference and next year in the Local’s and Europeans a fairly high preference is on offer due to the fact there is only one FG candidate in Cork South Central LEA and Ireland Euro South constituency, but after yesterdays budget not in a million years will Fianna Fail get a preference, no matter how measly from me. The...
So every one has heard that Joe Biden, the Democratic VP nominee is a little gaffe prone but after reading Ann Coulters review of the debate he is more then prone! if Palin had made basic mistakes like this, people would be calling for her head! A few examples: About Lebanon: “I said and Barack said, ‘Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don’t, Hezbollah will control it.’” This is madness — Lebanon is not...
This time Ireland! Its an interesting one too. The Party Breakdown is as follows Fianna Fail 36% (down 4)Fine Gael 28% (up 3)Labour 9% (down 1)Sinn Fein 9% (down 1)Greens 7% (no change)PD’s 3% (up 1) (June poll available here in PDF) In another question in the poll 50% of people are not confident that the government can get the economy out of the current downturn. Its nice to see FG up and FF down below the 40% (the...
Here are some books that have been keeping me company over the last few months Moments That Changed Us by Colum Kenny My review rating: 4 of 5 starsThis book is a must for anyone who is interesting in the changes that have made Irish society what it is today. From the divorce and abortion referendums to the court cases that changed how we viewed things. An excellent read. An Utterly Impartial History of Britain: by John O’Farrell My...
Okay so the title of this post is a bit of a headline grabber but bear with me as this is not a pro-choice or pro-life rant but a discussion on the legal situation of abortion in Ireland. I recently read a book where this is brought up and hence this post. The book in question is “Moments that Changed Us” by Colum Kenny (Goodreads.com link) Article 40.3.3 of Bunreacht Na hÉireann (Constitution of Ireland) states: 3° The State...
Well the whole atheism thing hasn’t exactly worked and I’m giving up on being a Bright. Though I am not going back to Christian let along Catholic. I have recently come a cross a new religion (both to me and it is fairly new in religious terms also). What is that faith? Bahá’í. Bahá’í teachings appeal to me and Shoghi Effendi has summed them up and I cannot disagree with them. The independent search after truth, unfettered by superstition...
Okay, so I get in a lot of trouble in gay circles and lefty equality circles (you know who you are Len) about my opposition or really lack of support for gay marriage. I recently posted over on The Political Gay about my thoughts on the Heads of the Civil Partnership Bill 2008 (available here (PDF)). Though I did take part in the LGBT Noise protest in Cork about the bill (Gaycork.com thread) I am not that fussed. I...
Lisbon – Round II
Image by stephen.spillane via FlickrSo the stage is being set for us to vote on the EXACT same treaty again. Granted the only difference is that the member states will agree not to limit the number of EU Commissioners. The other changes will be copper fastening what we already have. A protocol on Abortion (Attached to Maastricht!), Military (Attached to Nice after Nice I) and Tax Sovereignty which is in all the treaties! Really come on like! How stupid...
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