Children’s Books Ireland and RTÉ recently promoted a reading list featuring controversial book “What’s the T?”, which promotes inappropriate sexual content aimed at 15-year-olds.
Five different Sinn Féin TDs say they can’t comment on this as they aren’t aware of the book.
When I was young there was a massive push to make Ireland the most inclusive nation for people with Down Syndrome.
It was something very positive. We made the Special Olympics part of our identity. I remember when I worked in a cafe on campus in NUIG during my studies that the bread we ordered for making our sandwiches was baked at a bakery which acted as an employment opportunity for the local DS community. We were all very proud of this connection and seeing these men and women making their way in the world with a sense of independence.
As Maria says, in 40 years there will be no people with DS left in Ireland. Some will argue that it's good to 'eradicate' it from society. I am of the view that society (certainly the families I know who have family members with it) is genuinely enriched when we find space for people with DS. It keeps us soft. It keeps us human.
Besides, it's not something that be 'eradicated'. It can only be aborted away generation to generation and in doing so, it reduces human beings with DS to the status of weeds - they are to be weeded out in pre-natal screening.
I understand people who feel they cannot take on the responsibility of a child with DS who will become an adult who will still need care. But stigmatising DS and normalising the abortion of such children is not a solution. It's quite sad to imagine a future Ireland where a child with DS will be the loneliest of children - a child where 90%+ of his cohort have been aborted.
One day, a lonlely Irish child with DS will be the only one of his kind for hundreds of kilometres and the era of a nation joyously waving Green-clad athletes with DS off at Dublin Airport will just be an echo from a very different Ireland.
This is a heartbreaking betrayal of women and the unborn by not only SF but also FF and FG.
We often regret decisions made in haste, whether its buying an item of clothing, an argument with a friend or loved one or the many hundreds of decisions each of us makes on an annual basis.
To pretend the three day wait isn't helpful to thousands of women is an outright lie.
Even women who do choose to go ahead with an abortion have had time to think it through.
Removing this safeguard is just more evidence this government doesn't care about the wellbeing of its citizens, I am disgusted with them.
@independent_ire
@sa1tb0y@MaryLouMcDonald You'll see nothing in hell . Your eyes will be burning at the back of your head while you're choking on Mary Lou's 'sister's' cock for eternity.
“The forest was shrinking, but the trees kept voting for the axe. For the axe was clever, and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them.”
What You Can Do:
-Think critically
-Listen to dissenting voices
-Don’t mistake identity for integrity
"I guess expecting a Senior Cabinet Minister to defend the merits of his own Government’s policies is too much to ask. That would be an ecumenical matter."
@Ben_Scallan comments on Media Minister Patrick O'Donovan's continued evasions.
Only a very naive person with a cabbage for a brain would trust these scoundrels and their proposed government Digital ID/Digital Identity Wallet.⚠️👇👇👇
Protect children? Really Mr Martin? Have you seen the books in the schools and libraries?
You're not fooling anyone.
This is about Digital ID for all.
We see you.
Irish Media Minister Patrick O'Donovan tells Gript: "My Department's role with Coimisiún na Meán is to make sure that people don't get their 'news' from people who thrive on the advent of fake news, but rather from trusted sources, including our public service broadcaster."