Most readers will know by now that there is a concerted campaign both here and in the Republic to liberalise abortion.
In the north the vehicle for change is being highlighted by the notion that we in the north need to have a more compassionate approach to the tragic circumstances in which a woman becomes aware that her unborn baby is suffering from a life-limiting condition. They have even invented a non-medical term to describe this – fatal foetal abnormality – a term that suggests a clear medical condition, which of course it is not.
In the Republic the people voted in a Referendum in 1983 to safeguard our unborn children in what is known as the 8th Amendment. The pro-abortion lobby now wish to have this protection for the unborn removed and their clear goal is to have the same abortion on demand rights as exist in Great Britain.
The Republic’s government introduced a limited version of abortion several years ago and if anyone has any doubts about where the implementation of abortion, proposed by David Ford, will lead just look at what has happened in the Republic. Nothing will satisfy the pro-abortion lobby except abortion on demand – the legal right for women to terminate their unborn babies. The implications of liberalising abortion are well illustrated by Kermit Gosnell, the infamous doctor from Philadelphia who ran one of the most ghastly abortion clinics in America. Prior to his conviction Gosnell was a respected medical practitioner who moved in high status social circles in Philadelphia. Gosnell is now serving a long prison sentence when his illegal activities were uncovered by a narcotics detective – not you would imagine by health administrators.
I highlight this case because Gosnell’s clinic was inspected by the health authorities in Philadelphia on several occasions over several years and the officials failed to act on what was going on. One can only surmise that this was because they recognised that the abortion lobby was so strong and powerful that they did not want to take any action that upset this lobby.
Another feature of this case was that the American national media to their shame virtually ignored Gosnell’s trial until it was almost ended. In the same way the Irish media boycotted the media event involving the inspirational Karen Gaffney – a Down’s Syndrome sufferer.
Anything that appears to show abortion in a negative light tends to be shunned by the media. My message to readers is therefore this – do not imagine for a second that what you are seeing on Irish or British television or newspapers is a fair and objective account of the issues surrounding abortion. That is clearly not the case.
EAMON DALLETT
Dungiven, Co Derry
DUP minister didn’t implement scheme to deal with tyre problem
I would like to respond to John Dallat’s letter (July 28) where he calls for a traceability scheme to deal with the issue of waste tyres.
First of all when Mr Dallat’s party colleague Mark H Durkan was environment minister he had the chance to introduce a scheme but failed.
We all agree that the burning of tyres is illegal and that councils and the environmental agency should be doing more to protect the health of the public from the poisonous fumes and waste that comes from burning rubber tyres.
Mr Dallat also states that those who divert tyres to the bonfires are escaping the cost of recycling, in reality the tyres have already been paid for.
Each customer who gets new tyres fitted pays up to £3 per car tyre while lorry and tractor tyres can be as much as £12/15 each. This money is for the recycling of old tyres.
At present the Environment Agency has no idea of how many tyres we use per year and this is the loophole in the law that allows this practice of burning on bonfires to continue.
This is why I brought a motion calling for a register of waste tyre to the assembly in 2016. This motion called for all new tyres from manufacture to sale to business to end of use all needs to be on a central register so we know exactly where each tyre manufactured ends up and recycled. This motion was passed by the assembly and it was then left to the DUP environment minister Michelle McIllveen to bring forward the proper legal framework to implement the register. Unfortunately for the public this was not carried forward.
The question needs to be asked why the DUP ministry did not carry out the wishes of the assembly and introduce a central register for all tyres which would allow the relevant agencies to know how many tyres are in circulation at anyone time; make it very difficult for those who provide tyres for bonfires and know how much each tyre business spends on tyres and recycling.
So Mr Dallat the will to deal with the problem of burning tyres in bonfires has been dealt with by
the assembly who supported the Sinn Féin motion of a central tyre register unfortunately it was the DUP minister who did not implement
the scheme.
OLIVER McMULLAN
Sinn Féin, East Antrim
The truth can not be concealed
It was heartening to read in The Irish News (July 26) that the DUP’s Edwin Poots spoke so positively about the Irish Language Act at the summer school in Glenties, rightly so he stated that the Irish language “isn’t threatening, it isn’t politicised”. Why is his party then opposing the official recognition of the Irish language by a standalone act? The Irish language is recognised worldwide as a modern European language. In December 2014 Google launched an Irish version of Gmail. Why does Google with its 435 million users worldwide recognise the rights of Irish language speakers and acknowledge the international status of the language? In fact many websites use the Irish language. There is presently evidence of continued growth and popularity of the language.
As supporters of the British government the 10 DUP members at Westminster will know that in 2014 the Conservatives made a commitment to introduce an Irish language agreement stressing the importance of it and the need that it has for parliamentary status, recognition and respect. Thereby setting the future development of the language in terms of being treated consistent with the Council of Europe’s Charter on regional and minority languages.
Ní feídir an fhírinne a cheilt (The truth cannot be concealed)
Rev PATRICK MARRON
Fintona, Co Tyrone
Focusing on imaginary ‘small print’
A brief reply to Danny Treacy’s letter attempting to refute my views on ‘abortion’ and to qualify, obscure, blur and nuance the ‘abortion’ lobby’s position on abortion.
In the introductory paragraph to my previous letter I commended Danny for his fearless condemnation of the taking of life worldwide and the duplicity, double standards and lame attempts to justify murder. I did not defend ‘ethically indefensible violence’, as Danny suggests. Has Danny read my letter selectively?
As to the words ‘insentient beings’ I quote verbatim from Danny’s letter (March 3): “…the destruction of a cell with no capacity to feel pain, or of an embryo with no neurons or brain, trumps that of sentient, human beings”.
The implication that the unborn, in comparison, are insentient is there, plainly and clearly. As to all abortionists being ‘religious’ – I am one of those who
are not.
Danny focuses on the sometimes imaginary ‘small print’, splitting hairs, ignoring the overall holistic big picture.
These are my final words on this issue to the ‘Letters’ page.
AIDAN CONVERY
Draperstown, Co Derry
