The Party for Partnership is being held upstairs at the Odeon on Harcourt Street. The Odeon is one of the most inaccessible venues in Dublin, the upstairs part included.  (I telephoned and checked). So that’ll be able bodied people partying tomorrow night for forthcoming nuptials next year.

The Green Party and the Minister may wish when they have concluded their celebrations to consult a document from the National Disability Authority which is now five years old. *

It discusses issues pertaining to disability and sexual orientation. It’s well time that some of the suggestions in this report were acted on and further work completed regarding access and inclusion for lesbians and gay men with disabilities. It’s not just the Green Party that has this problem, the lgbt community is legendary itself.

*I was one of the people who advised the NDA in a voluntary capacity on the report.

He has written to his Local Representative in Seanad Eireann to raise a number of issues.

The Seanad will begin a two day debate of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009 (note the new name!) tomorrow. (Schedule here.)

The 2nd stage will take place at some stage tomorrow after 12.30pm until 5pm and from 7.15pm onwards. This will be where Senators make general comments on the bill as to it’s general philosophy and how they feel about it so expect contributions from David Norris, the FF 3 (O’Murchu, Jim Walsh and John Hanafin) and others.

The Committee, Report and Final Stages where the bill is debated and possibly amended will take place on Thursday from 10.30 am. (Live stream can be accessed here by selecting one of the options for the Seanad)

You can see the various amendments that have been made and keep an eye to the page for amendments which will be proposed.

As ever a liveblog will take place and we will be watching online and possibly even inside the house. Tweets marked #cpbill will be included in the liveblog and other photo’s, blog posts and even video will be included. It’s history in the making, it may be slightly testy atmosphere, there may even be more ‘vicious protesters’ and it’s going to take two days to do – lots of people have been joining us on the liveblog over the other debates so we hope you’ll join in at some stage!.

Before the skies darken into autumn  the plan to expand the Limerick City boundaries will  have reached  Environment Minister John Gormley’s desk. Saying that the issue has been controversial  is an understatement similar to describing  the Williamite siege as bit of a fall-out.  The ambitions of the metropolis though might yet result in a latter-day stand-off.  But this time neighbouring Co. Clare could be throwing up the barricades against the forces of its urban neighbour..

The city’s seeking for lebensraum goes way back.  The first ever coalition government, that of 1948-51 permitted expansion almost exactly sixty years ago. Another application  entered in 1974 remained unresolved before a chunk of the north county was handed over in 2008. Until then the troubled estate of Moyross was split with one half being the responsibility of the county and the other half  being in the fiefdom of the city. All of it is now within the walls a fact which may or may not contribute to civic peace of mind.

Paradoxically, it had in recent years the highest earned-income level after Dublin, a regeneration programme was in place, the arts were booming and the shops were alive with the sound of credit cards being swished.  However 40% of all housing was let to the less well-off and of course there ’s the high mortality rate amongst  local crime figures. The latter images it seems aren’t particularly attractive to potential investors.

Recession descended, building halted and the brand new commercial development in the Opera Centre, having occasioned the closure of a large number of local businesses to make room for, itself failed to attract tenants.  The city again started to eye the countryside acquisitively. It was perceived locally that the county got the money and the high-end  companies and the town got the pain.

Minister Gormley set up the Limerick Local Government Committee in March to help find solutions.  When the Fine Gael city council then suggested the ingestion of its neighbour all hell broke loose.  The cry was no surrender.

A local journalist familiar with both domains thinks that,.

‘There’s a feeling that the city needs room to grow into a regional centre and that inward investment will be easier to attract if it cultivates a cachet associated with having prosperous suburbs.’

He continued,

‘ On the county side deep loyalties are involved aside from fear of major financial loss. ‘

Suddenly, peace broke out. The FG led  county council  agreed to go along with expansion and a  single council.  Reading the report of the decision in the Limerick Leader it seems that it may have dawned on somebody that savings set against rate loss means a net gain of €2m to the country side of the new conurbation. That arithmetic pleases voters say the local pundits.  So the county council supported the change  in  its submission to the LLGC which visited the region yesterday, speaking in camera with concerned parties.  Now everyone’s happy…?

Well, not really. The single authority wants to cast its line and reel  in a wee bit of  Co. Clare. This has provoked a popular uprising. Verbally, at least.  Last week John Cooke of Clare FM took his Morning Focus programme to one of the villages under ‘threat’. Under a banner reading ‘Not an inch of Co. Clare’ the plain people of Parteen talked of Limerick crime, dereliction spilling into the area and a representative of Clare Against the Boundary talked about all the benefit accruing to the city. Another woman decared she would refuse mail with Limerick in the address. A local publican said that Limerick has to be stopped at the river.

The Clare local councillors while softening a little towards the LLGC and the job its doing are of course compelled to follow the people’s lead., if they want to keep their seats. John Gormley who comes from these parts is standing back and letting his committee get on with it. But it is clear that Clare folk are not going to be netted easily. A 21st Century.siege and strong resistance might yet ensue.

On trying to find out more about Ireland’s relationship with Malawi I was surprised (and impressed) to note that the Minister for State with responsibility for  Overseas Development at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Peter Power, has released a statement on the matter.

Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power, TD today made the following statement in relation to the sentencing of Mr Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Mr Steven Monjeza in Malawi:

“I have been following this case very closely through our Embassy in Malawi, and, along with our EU partners, have regularly emphasised to the authorities our serious concern about this case.

“Now that the two men have been sentenced, we are working with our partners for a strong EU response.  On Ireland’s part, as friends and partners of Malawi, which is one of the priority countries for our bilateral assistance, I want to emphasise our very serious concern and disappointment at the severe sentence imposed on the two men on the basis of their sexual orientation.

“The sentence is entirely disproportionate and against international human rights principles.  With our EU partners, we are calling on the Government of Malawi to fulfil its commitments to the protection of the human rights of all individuals, irrespective of their sexual orientation”.

That is a swift and strong reaction by previous Irish standards though I do wonder what type of sentence would be proportionate - the sentence and charges are wrong.  Is there more the Minister can do and what can we do to ensure that he follows through?

You could contact him online here and thank him for his actions so far and ask him to continue?

Enjoying it much? Wonder what advice the Union rep who was acting in the matter would give MJ.

Barry Andrews, Minister for Children attended the launch and it’s his quoted response that has stunned me.  This is the comment from the Irish Times report.

He pointed out that “a minimum requirement in terms of RSE teaching” should be reflected in curriculum.

Mr Andrews noted there was one comment contained in the report in which a respondent was critical of the involvement of religious groups in sex education and claimed “they ridiculed homosexuality”.

Mr Andrews said this was “not tolerable in any school no matter what the religious ethos”. However, he insisted religion “is entitled to be taught” and if a parent chooses to send their child to a school with such an ethos, then that has to be respected.

“The balance is a very difficult one to achieve,” he added.

What choice do parents have though on education at senior cycle?  There is very little choice throughout the country and shouldn’t the department and other departments be ensuring that something is done to ensure the issues can be covered outside of school.  More importantly there is very little regulation of the curricula that is set. Minister Andrews said that this matter could be addressed by Whole School Evaluations but they are not annual events and they also are bound by doffing the cap to religious ethos issues.

These are the guidelines which were issued in 1997 by the Department of Education.  The research today shows they are not working, not monitored and the health risks to young people have been cited as a concern by the Department of Health.