Maman Poulet | Clucking away crookedly through media, politics and life

Action on Homophobia for IDAHO

May 16th, 2012 · Homophobia, LGBT

Today is International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), the event is being marked internationally and has grown hugely over the past number of years.  UN agencies and major human rights organisations are invovled in marking the day and launching initiatives, research and policies promoting good practice.

Senior Irish Politicians involved in the education sphere have signed a statement of support of young LGBT’s and the elimination of bullying in schools.

IDAHO 2012 Statement

On this day, International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) we Stand Up with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender young people all across Ireland to let them know that we support the elimination of  homophobic or transphobic bullying from our schools

The theme of IDAHO this year is addressing homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools and this day is being marked all over the world by governments, schools, young people, communities and parents.

We know that homophobic and transphobic bullying can have hugely negative effects on young people’s educational opportunities, and results in heightened vulnerability to self harm and suicide.

Ireland is in the forefront internationally in efforts to eliminate homophobic bullying, which has been described by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as a ‘moral outrage, a grave violation of human rights and a public health crisis it is also a loss for the entire human family when promising lives are cut short”.

In marking IDAHO today, we stand together with all LGBT young people in Ireland. We reaffirm our determination to ensure that all LGBT young people will have a safe, supportive and affirming education. Together, we can assign homophobic and transphobic bullying to the history books.

Signed:

Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn TD, Labour

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald TD, Fine Gael

Brendan Smith TD, Fianna Fail

Sean Crowe TD, Sinn Fein

Finian McGrath TD, on behalf of the Dáil Technical Group

 More information is available from BeLonG To, Michael Barron the founder of the youth service spoke yesterday at the UNESCO launch of a new global manual tackling homophobic bullying in schools.  Resources developed by BeLonG To have been commended by UNESCO previously and the group were asked to contribute resources to the manual.  Michael also has written an opinion piece in today’s Irish Times.

At 10am today LGBT groups will make presentations to the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality .  You can watch the committee meeting here (Committee Room 2).

Share

» No CommentsTags:··

Newspapers thinking money grows on links

May 11th, 2012 · Irish Media

Did you hear the one about the organisation ‘representing’ newspapers copyright in Ireland sending threatening letters to voluntary organisations/charities who publish links to newspaper articles on their own websites about items that may be of interest to readers? (Breathe it’s a long sentence I know, sorry).

That’s links dear reader- not complete articles or scans of them.  Links.

Women’s Aid – the organisation which works to provide support to those  who experience domestic violence are one of the groups who have been asked to pay for linking to content.  You can read the very detailed and rightfully challenging response of their legal team to the Newspaper Licensing Ireland efforts.  (oops I just linked there to something, my bad, phew it’s not on a newspaper site!)

These same newspapers have buttons on their websites encouraging people to  SHARE those articles via their friends and followers.

You know the buttons-

Some of these newspapers encourage us to leave comments on their pages and engage in conversation for the benefit of other readers (and oh maybe to feed our own egos by spouting off and possibly pissing off columnists for having our own opinions about their opinions). It’s all about the social.  It’s taking years to get used to and develop and some publications are better than others and the disruption of their industry has been one very long saga.

These newspapers do not charge for reading their websites.  They have some advertising.  Some have apps where you can buy the edition for your mobile device (I even pay a subscription to one of them).  But mostly for the last few years they have either been pulling their hair out about how to survive or sticking their heads in the sand.

I spend a lot of time pointing over 6000 followers on twitter and hundreds of friends on facebook to articles I think they are/should be interested in – in fact many journalists and writers send me messages asking me to tweet links to various things to my readers.

These links get retweeted on or shared on facebook or emailed to others and it spreads. Some may buy a paper on the basis of seeing the article or subscribe to an online service, some may click on advertising on the webpage.

I do this a) because I can b) for the betterment of humankind (bear with me) and c) because that is how media consumption and comment has developed. It’s like ‘What it says in the Papers’ ala moi – I wonder have the NLI sent letters to RTE looking for money to be paid for talking about the content of papers in radio and tv programmes.  I have for years linked to content on this blog, in email lists and message boards. I regularly send links to colleagues in work about items that are or interest.  Where I have been in charge of the content and discussion I have discouraged the publication of copy on other sites as I believed it was an infringement and unfair.  Links were the way of protecting people and making sure that readers read things where they should be read.

Some of these newspapers link to my website – I don’t charge them, in fact I am very happy (in fact honoured) that they do so. On a not very related point  I also have not charged them for the stories they have stolen over the years or ideas that writers have obtained by following up on something I have written about.

It appears that the organisation which represents the interests of newspapers  wants people or organisations who link back to their content to buy a licence.   They think that we are broadcasters or reproducing their content and should pay for the privilege of sending readers to their pages to read their content.   I await my invoice.

Dear newspapers (or the organisation which represents you which may be on a solo run)  if you do not want people to link to your content and comment on your articles and read your output put up a fecking paywall and stop scaring the voluntary sector and other vulnerable bodies with your twisted logic and latest money making wheeze. The huge crisis facing newspapers and publishing in Ireland is not going to be solved by charging for linking to your content.  Reading it?  Maybe.  Who knows.

No doubt to be continued.

Share

» 3 CommentsTags:

Claiming Our Future – Reinventing Our Democracy

May 10th, 2012 · Equality, Irish Politics

Claiming Our Future are holding a major public event on Saturday 26 May in Croke Park on democratic and political reform.  The movment is about alternatives and has organised events in the past twelve months on income inequality and sustainable development and economics. This time the debates will centre on local government and the way power and decision making  is structured in Ireland, how people can be more involved in decisions that affect their lives and the constitutional convention and how it should be organised and what it should be talking about.

The event is free and open to everyone and you do not have to be a member of any group or organisation to attend. Discussions are held in small facilitated groups throughout the day interspersed with short videos and inputs which are intended to initiate discussion.  There are short documents on the issues which can be read before people take part. You can register here.

Mary Murphy from Claiming Our Future gives a preview.

Share

» No CommentsTags:

On message, everywhere, all the time

May 1st, 2012 · Irish Politics, Social Media

Earlier today from Fine Gael Campaign HQ to their crack squad of social media troops. (Thank you Simon Coveney!)

Sure enough after 2pm there were tweets from people at the launch indeed TD’s who have not tweeted in months are suddenly in lurve with de twitter. Welcome back deputies and Ministers. Social media is not just for christmas elections!

And then tonight before the Europe Debate on TV3

This was followed by another text to tell the faithful to go vote in the Politico.ie online poll that was running during the programme.

I don’t know how much of this referendum campaign I will survive but of course if you email me bits and pieces you might give me the will to blog :) tips (@) mamanpoulet.com

Share

» 8 CommentsTags:··

Rónán Mullen is still responding

April 23rd, 2012 · Abortion

Rónán Mullen wrote this evening to his supporters about the last few days and the accusations that have been made online and in ‘mainstream’ media. His mailbox must have been jumping. I thought you might like to see the spin. Some of it will be deeply hurtful to the parents who have come forward in the past week to talk about their experiences of losing their much wanted babies and seeking terminations and support.

Dear X,

You may have seen or heard a news story in relation to a briefing I attended in Leinster House last Wednesday. A number of people were in Leinster House campaigning for legalising abortion in such circumstances where a child is likely to live for only a short period after birth. This group included some women who had aborted their severely disabled children and it has been alleged in various fora that I was discourteous.

I want to stress that while I expressed my view that abortion is unjust I was respectful and courteous to all the people involved at all times. I was deeply conscious of how personally sensitive this issue was for all involved. Some of the women had undergone an abortion only a matter of weeks previously.

Today it has been reported that I accused a husband of one of the women of “having an agenda”. The report is inaccurate and misleading. I attach below a letter I have sent to the Irish Times today on the matter, in response to what it reported.

To those who have contacted me about this issue, I hope this clarifies. Please note in particular the last two paragraphs:

“I want to put on record that I deeply sympathise with the women in this case while remaining true to my own view that even severely disabled babies with a short life expectancy deserve to be allowed live their natural life. I strongly support the establishment of facilities to support women and families in this tragic situation.

I do regret any attempt by various lobbying groups to use such sad cases to pursue a much wider abortion agenda. I also regret any attempt, whether by misrepresentation, scorn or invective, to marginalise the contribution of pro-life persons or to intimidate them from entering the debate. I am surprised that such a brief exchange, which was entirely courteous on my side, should cause such a furore on social media and provide the basis for an article in the Irish Times. I call on the media to treat everybody fairly and with respect, and to ensure a balanced treatment of these very sensitive issues at all times.”

Yours sincerely,

Rónán Mullen

***
***

Sir, – The report in today’s Irish Times (April 23rd) concerning my conversation with a group of women and men who came to Leinster House last Wednesday is inaccurate and misleading.

The group, which included women who had ended their pregnancies by abortion because of very serious foetal disabilities, came to Leinster House to advocate that abortion be legalised in such cases.

Over the weekend, I was informed that there was a large amount of abusive commentary on social media following a statement by one of the women on the Late Late Show that a politician in Leinster House had been unpleasant to them.

I was contacted by a number of journalists because a blog post allegedly from the group who organised the briefing in the Oireachtas said that I was the politician in question.

The context of what happened is this: I was not able to be present for the start of last Wednesday’s briefing in the audio-visual room but it is not uncommon for politicians to come and go from such meetings as their schedule dictates. I arrived at the meeting and signed in, but had missed the introductions and the names of each person. Other politicians arrived later.

Not long after I arrived, a man at the top table who was clearly from one of the families involved, invited anyone present to explain why abortion shouldn’t be allowed in their situation. After a moment of silence, I tentatively offered my hand.

I was not called by the chairperson and it was only after several other speakers that I was invited to speak. Like other politicians, I was deeply conscious of the sensitivity of the situation and the respect due to all persons present. I sympathised with the families and offered my perspective on why I felt that abortion was not the best response in that situation.

At one point, the same man accused me of smirking while I was speaking. I was taken aback by this. It was absolutely untrue. I felt that it was a comment designed to portray me unsympathetically. I did however feel uncomfortable at that point with the atmosphere that had been generated in the room and I replied that I was probably grimacing. I invited the families present to be in touch with us individually for friendly and respectful dialogue, independently of their involvement with the Irish Family Planning Association and the National Women’s Council who appear to have arranged the meeting. I have concerns about the policies of both organisations in relation to abortion and their disregard for the rights of unborn children, and I have addressed this publicly before.

The chairwoman of the meeting, who was from the National Women’s Council, finished by saying that the abortion bill before the Dail that day (proposed by Clare Daly TD) was just a first step. If that day’s bill were to pass it would effectively provide for abortion without time limits on a mental health ground, which I believe from the experiences of other jurisdictions would amount to abortion on demand. The most up to date studies show that if anything abortion increases mental ill-health among women – it certainly is not a treatment for it.

As the meeting finished and we were leaving, I made it my business to shake hands and speak with some of the persons present and other politicians were doing likewise. Finally, as the others were talking, I offered my hand to the gentleman with whom I had the earlier exchange. He took my hand reluctantly but said he disliked me and my argumentative style. When I tried to explain that I wanted a sincere and respectful exchange of views, he bristled and motioned me away. It was at that point that I asked whether there was a separate agenda here as this was not what normally happened when politicians came along to follow up with people who came in to lobby them. The question was not asked in either a rhetorical or leading manner. I only asked the question once because it was clear that the man did not wish to speak with me.

When Aoife Carr of the Irish Times contacted me I told her that all the politicians had been respectful at all times and, asked about my interaction with the women, I said that all my comments to them were in the open forum. I invited her to come back to me with any precise comment by a particular person and I would try and confirm or otherwise then from memory.

In today’s Irish Times it is reported that I twice said to a man called James Burke, “You’ve got a bigger agenda here James, don’t you.” This was not put to me by the Irish Times. Had this been put to me, I would have explained what actually happened, how the question was not put in this way and the fact that I did not know James’s name at the time.

I want to put on record that I deeply sympathise with the women in this case while remaining true to my own view that even severely disabled babies with a short life expectancy deserve to be allowed live their natural life. I strongly support the establishment of facilities to support women and families in this tragic situation.

I do regret any attempt by various lobbying groups to use such sad cases to pursue a much wider abortion agenda. I also regret any attempt, whether by misrepresentation, scorn or invective, to marginalise the contribution of pro-life persons or to intimidate them from entering the debate. I am surprised that such a brief exchange, which was entirely courteous on my side, should cause such a furore on social media and provide the basis for an article in the Irish Times. I call on the media to treat everybody fairly and with respect, and to ensure a balanced treatment of these very sensitive issues at all times. Yours, etc,

Senator Rónán Mullen,
Independent Senator,
National University of Ireland Panel,
Seanad Éireann,
Kildare Street,
Dublin 2.

Share

» 7 CommentsTags:

Una voce?

April 19th, 2012 · Irish Politics, Social Policy

I saw the Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald, this morning. We were both in Croke Park.  She to attend one meeting and me to attend another.  I was lost.  I could have gone over and said hello and asked her about the Scandinavian model of childcare that her colleague the Minister for Social Protection had talked about the night before in the Dáil during the beginning of the Social Welfare Bill 2012 debate.  Childcare that would help parents who are parenting alone enter the workplace.  But I was hassled as I was in the wrong place and didn’t have a car to bring me around to the other side of Croker to where I was expected.  Anyway I would not have got an answer and it might not have been fair that early in the morning.  Later that morning the Minister had an answer for the press saying it was cabinet policy.

We’ve seen no white paper on childcare or debate on how it will be organised in the run up to this.  Yet legislation is being passed on the basis of it maybe happening in the next seven months.  We don’t yet have Children First on a statutory basis which I think is the Minister for Children’s priority followed by the Children’s rights referendum.

Bringing in affordable childcare for all parents whether they are parenting alone or otherwise is not on this government’s agenda.  Until last night.  And even now I’m not so sure it’s there at all.  (Offers to bring everyone together and organise it by Christmas are being made by some – they must have a money printing factory out the back.)

So the issue of childcare is not the real issue here. (It is definitely an issue but not the issue). While people speculate about the games being played here either inside or outside the government or the individual parties, there is a fundamental issue which might again get lost in the midst of this.  That of those parenting alone and their children who are the most at risk of poverty in this state.

So rather than feeding the speculation further I want to leave the final word for the moment to Frances Byrne, the CEO of OPEN who yesterday spoke at a media event by those involved in the 7 is too young campaign. Because the last four months and the last 6 years of policy and negotiation and real reform are the issues which should be under debate.  Not opportunities for people to belittle lone parents (some of the back bench speeches tonight in the Dáil were shameful in their bitter bigotry) or for those in government to stake claims or go into denial. This issue has some time to run but hopefully supporting those parenting alone and their children will remain the focus of discussion.

Share

» 2 CommentsTags:

7 year olds and Austerity Politics

April 18th, 2012 · Irish Politics, Social Policy

The Social Welfare Bill 2012 begins its journey through the Oireachtas tonight . It proposes changes to the entitlement to the One Parent Family Payment, Pension age qualification and also will introduce new fraud control measures.

There has been very little said in public discourse about the changes to the One Parent Family payment and the fact that in two years time lone parents will not receive parenting support when their child reaches 7 years of age and if they are not in work will have to apply for jobseekers allowance.

Since 80% of lone parents are either working or in education and there is no child care support outside of the part time year between 3 and 4 years of age, where are children over the age of 7 to be supported in the future?  There were changes proposed by previous governments which would have seen a reduction in the age of the child supported by the payment but would also have examined employment supports and childcare provision for those affected.  No such plans are provided for in this bill under debate this week.

7 is too Young is a campaign led by a partnership comprising Open, Barnardos and the National Women’s Council of Ireland. They oppose the changes because

  • There isn’t enough after-school childcare and no plan in place to provide it.
  • There aren’t enough jobs.
  • We don’t have a social welfare system that supports those in Jobseekers to work part-time which is a reality or a choice for many lone parents.
  • We don’t have enough education & training places for those who are already on the Dole.
  • We believe that poverty, especially child poverty, will increase among lone parents if this Bill passes.
  • Unemployed lone parents will be at the bottom of the pile on the Dole. This means they will be the last grouping to receive active support to get into work.
  • Employed lone parents will have to make the awful choice between trying to work full-time, with little childcare support or moving on to welfare.

And it won’t save any money, more parents will end up unemployed as Jobseekers payments are not payable to people who work part time say over 4 or 5 days a week then many parents will have to give up working altogether.  (More analysis on the impact is available in the OPEN analysis document.)

Some say that One Parent families are supported into long term welfare dependency. However as so many are working or in education maybe it’s the bigger societal and economic system that is broken and not the parents trying to survive and  provide the best opportunities for their families.  They still appear in the most at risk of poverty statistics of the state and will continue to reside there for much longer if these changes go ahead and if there are no jobs or supports into employment provided. But the poor don’t matter in the scheme of things or do they?

The One Parent Family Payment also supports (mainly) mothers to keep their babies ( a lower number are in this position with most lone parents having been in relationships that have broken down for a variety of reasons.) However it is important to note the role of the payment in supporting people who are in crisis about their pregnancy.  Especially important in a state which continues to fail to legislate.  Clare Daly and the technical group are bringing in their private members bill on Medical Termination where the mothers life is at risk. The debate on that bill begins 90 minutes before the Social Welfare Bill 2012.  The government will oppose this bill. The  irony is not lost on me at all.

Austerity politics with no reflection on equality or the impacts and outcomes on people’s lives does not serve anyone well.  One day we might actually continue reform on the flawed system for reform’s sake rather than looking at lifestyle opportunities which do not exist. The proposals feed into myths and discrimination against lone parents because they don’t reflect on the increasingly diverse reasons for and responses to lone parenthood.  And of course there has been no reflection on the role and responsibility of the other parent.

7 is far too young to place a child at risk of consistent poverty (no child should be placed at this risk) and lone parents deserve the opportunity to work and have their role as a parent alone supported. Everyone deserves the chance to work.  However we seem to spend a lot of time talking people out of jobs rather than working on creating them and the people that might take them up.

Share

» 3 CommentsTags:···

Amalgamating rights bodies and eroding equality in the workplace

April 11th, 2012 · Equality, Irish Politics, Social Policy

Last week (when few were watching) Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton published his detailed plans for amalgamating the various employment rights bodies into a ‘ World Class Employment Relations Service’.  The government had previously announced it’s intention to bring all the functions of the Labour Relations Commission, National Employment Rights Authority and the Equality Tribunal under one roof.  The blue print released last week documents the moves that have been made already to streamline functions and documents the minister’s intentions in the drafting of legislation to produce a ‘one stop shop’.  Since I have a personal and professional interest in equality and anti-discrimination I’m restricting my comments to the proposals significant to these areas.

The reforms outlined will see the Equality Tribunal wound down and it’s functions transferred to the new Workplace Relations Commission.  Discrimination in the workplace, pay or pensions would still be dealt with by the body. But the blue print does not discuss in any way the nature of discrimination in the workplace and the way in which there would be a continued expertise in and support for working on cases where people are discriminated against due to their gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, Family status, membership of the Travelling Community.

Again this government is proposing to dump equality for fairness and wipe out any concept of promoting anti-discrimination practices in it’s work. (The last government decimated the Equality Authority and Irish Human Rights Commission) Indeed the document has no discussion at all about the need for specialisation or developmental work in promoting equality in the workplace.  This is especially worrying given the numbers of cases being taken under the gender and race grounds of late which show no regard and targeted harassment of pregnant women and mothers for example.  (A search for terms including gender and disability in the document drew a blank).

Further still the Minister proposes that anybody who wants to make a complaint about being unfairly treated in the workplace, badly paid, dismissed or discriminated against on Equality grounds will have to pay a fee to make that complaint. The suggested fee is €50.  This may not sound much but if you are not being paid the minimum wage and want to complain about it or have lost your job due to unfair treatment you are probably not going to be in the position to pay out for seeking your rights. Nor should you be expected to.

The document is very reactive in nature and does not in any detail talk about the concept of promoting rights in a workplace and good practice and supporting workers to have respect given to their terms and conditions.   It is hard to argue that streamlining the services and speeding up access to resolution measures which seems to be the focus of the Minister’s actions (and closing down some quangos ala New Era) will not be excellent for those affected as the delays in taking cases under both equality and other employment rights mechanisms are ridiculously long.

However the document fails to reflect at all on the impact of winding up the Equality Tribunal on the area of discrimination in goods and services for which the Tribunal is currently responsible for.  The Equal Status Act sets out how the rights of people in the nine grounds are protected in respect of accessing goods and services.  If the Tribunal is wound up where will those who are denied access to education, health, shops and other services to go to seek redress?

I wonder what Mervyn Taylor who first worked on the area of creating specialist anti discrimination resolution measures in the 1990′s would say?  And what are Labour saying as yet another area of Equality is insipidly moved into Fairness by their partners in government?  And what of the Trade Unions?  The so called stakeholders?  Are they too standing idly by this dilution? Perhaps too caught up in the changes to the Labour Relations Commission and Labour Court and other areas where they earn their stripes?

The closing date for consultation on the paper is 30 April.  You should tell the Minister what you think about what he proposes before he drafts the legislation to rip everything asunder and maybe copy it to others, however the document states he is not interested in going over old ground and only wants to hear about ‘positive’ suggestions.  So no moaning about rights restrictions or inequality or unfairness of it all.  That’s some consultation!

Share

» 5 CommentsTags:

Fine Gael and the vulnerable, in fairness

April 2nd, 2012 · Irish Politics, Social Policy

The Fine Gael Ard Fheis was low key enough given the state of the country and the ‘need to hit the right note’. Apart that is from the large crowd outside who those inside were not allowed to see for fear we (media/delegates) would antagonise them.

There were 4,000 (depending on who you were reading) present from all over the country and it was the first time they had gathered since the election and they were given the school report by ministers. Most party conferences have long given up on the notion of actual policy debate unless it’s an internal party organisational matter. Ministers and TD’s spent time on stages in uncomfortable armchairs while party members presented motions which are edited and specially chosen and there is a fairly uncontentious vote.

So one looks to ministerial speeches for some notion of policy development or announcement or kite flying for inspiration or explanation for why you might spend the day there at all. And mostly yesterday there was very little if any of that. Again and again ministers set out what they had done, listing the achievements, mentioning their partners in government frequently and from time to time acknowledging the state we are in and ‘we have to remember those who are suffering.’ It was largely humility central, with not a lot of Phil Hogan.

All this combined with the huge convention centre and its comfortable seats and austere setting led to a slow news day.

However I wanted to pick up on a theme that I heard repeated on several occasions which is rare enough at a Fine Gael conference. The mentions of the vulnerable. Mainly these mentions were from Michael Noonan who made specific reference to Older people and how they should be protected from cuts and how society judges people on how they treat the old. He later included children in his thoughts. Of course as it was Fine Gael there were frequent mentions of fairness which is a far far different concept to equality which I didn’t hear mentioned much unless it pertains to gender in politics.

There is no doubt that older people have been largely protected from a lot of the cutting in recent years including during the first year in this new government. However the same cannot be said for children.

Forthcoming legislation which will see children raised in lone parent households (the majority of who were in work or education) put at risk of poverty surely will test this notion of protecting ‘the vulnerable’. The strong speech by Frances Fitzgerald on children’s rights on Friday night cited many problems in the previous administration and their legacy in terms of the amount of work that has to be done to protect the rights of children at risk of all kinds of abuse. However how many of the policies across the health, education, social protection and children’s affairs departments are poverty and rights proofed?

While the work on introducing Children First and reforming child welfare services is onerous, the removal of parental supports to lone parent families is going to leave this group of children at risk, not only in terms of poverty but also educational opportunities, health and other indicators.  Professor Nicholson from CUH Temple St  in his guest speech to the Ard Fheis placed great emphasis on the links between child poverty and health. The minister has also been silent on the area of childcare for this group – if their parents and other low income parents have no supports to arrange childcare who is responsible for it and how will parents be able to work?  I will return to the area of cuts to lone parents later in the week as it is a story of Budget 2012 that remains untold.

Simon Harris TD made a speech during a session hosted by Young Fine Gael on Human Rights where he talked about Disability in a way which I’ve rarely seen in a political setting. He mentioned rights, citizenship and most noticeably, for me anyway, the cost of disability and its impact on the lives of people with disabilities.

I want to make very clear that throwing money at the disability sector – as was done in Celtic Tiger Ireland – is not in itself a solution. It does not solve all the challenges faced by those with disabilities – be they physical, intellectual or psychological. Yes, funding and financial assistance is important but nothing is more important than recognising the rights of people with disabilities –rights that are the same as every other citizen in this country – and, importantly, beyond that, pditing in place the supports and the structures that they require to reach their potential, to make their contribution to society and to live their life as they wish.

… And let’s be frank with each other – even with reforming supports, evaluating systems in place and listening to the wishes of those with disabilities, there will always be some with a disability who will not be in a position to work or to take up education places. These individuals – full Irish citizens – are dependent on us – the general population and those of us in political life – to be their voice, to protect their rights and to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect. Our record as a nation in this area is shameful.

Responses to the lack of new policies and slowness of introduction of reform in social and equality areas frequently point to the lack of money or the Troika won’t let us do it.  How long can we as a society continue to restrict rights until people turn on each other or restrict people based on a pecking order of who is most deserving (or vulnerable)?

Much of the policy reform in the area of ‘the vulnerable’ does not need more money thrown at it.  It requires different ways of spending the money so that more people are helped and are given respect and dignity and full rights to participation in society.

I was thinking about Phil Hogan a lot over the weekend, absence making the brain grow… anyway. Whilst we have heard much about the propertied in the past few months between the household charge and those in negative equity, those who have nowhere to live or are receiving state subvention to rent could be supported to have more permanent housing.  If funds were allocated to renovate the many boarded up council houses, huge savings in rent supplement could be then made and jobs given to those with construction skills. It sounds a simple idea and one which many vested interests would no doubt rip assunder.

The focus on ‘the vulnerable’ has to be about more than pitying speeches and cliches whilst there is an increase in numbers of those on low incomes who are unfairly impacted by austerity measures and the recession.  Policy reform has to be inter departmental and Fine Gael Ministers for Justice and Equality, Health, Children et al need to review and proof each other’s policies (and those of their partners in government) and speak up in terms of rights rather than the continual adding ‘the half-pence to the pence and prayer to shivering prayer’ for the vulnerable.

Share

» 2 CommentsTags:

Fine Gael Ard Fheis 2012 Live Blog

March 30th, 2012 · Blogging, Irish Politics, Live Blogging

Hello from the Fine Gael Ard Fheis. This will be my doodle post for the day with my commentary and other bits and pieces I find of interest. You can comment by hitting that button up the left corner.

Share

» 1 CommentTags: