Communications director Larissa Nolan’s digest of how Aontú made the news in the past seven days (May 11 to 17)
Wednesday May 13 was a significant day in the history of Aontú. It was the date an extreme abortion bill intended to greatly widen access was defeated in a free vote in the Dail.
Senator Sarah O’Reilly welcomed its rejection, calling it: “a good day for the baby in the womb” and added: “The mood of the people was captured in the vote.”
The Social Democrat Reproductive Rights Bill was defeated 85-30, with Health Minister Jennifer Carroll McNeil saying she could not support a bill that supported “blanket decriminalisation” of doctors that performed abortions.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín welcomed the defeat of the bill, saying: “The lives of thousands of children will be saved as a result” of its defeat.
“The political ground is shifting to a more compassionate and measured response in relation to this issue, and away from extremes.”
Ahead of the vote, the party invited two of Ireland’s top female columnists Sarah Carey and Brenda Power in to discuss their opposition to it.
Power and Carey’s issue was the Bill was the removal of the three-day wait from consultation to abortion.
They discussed the reasons to save the 72-hour wait in a special edition podcast with me, saying it was better for women to have the necessary time to pause before such an irreversible and life-changing decision.
Power called the move to delete the safeguard is “anti-woman” and Carey said its removal expects women to make “a really quick and serious decision in the one day.”
Another big story of the week was Irish Mail on Sunday crime correspondent Debbie McCann’s investigation into how Tusla findings against individuals don’t show up on garda vetting checks.
She highlighted the case of teacher John Condon, who had been working as a principal of a special needs school, despite having disturbing allegations of him categorised as “founded”.
Former student Paidi Manning told Condon he abused him in the 2000s, by forcing him to stand outside in his underwear in the dark as punishment.
Despite the allegations being declared founded in 2023, this did not show up on vetting and he went on to become the head of a special school.
Peadar Tóibín said a vetting process that relied on abusers to self-declare was useless. He asked: “How many other individuals with ‘founded’ allegations are in education, working with children and young people? It’s an appalling loophole. “Why was this not caught in vetting? Or through the hiring process, especially considering the vulnerable group involved. How did it slip through the net entirely? It suggests a very concerning gap in vetting processes. How did this happen?”
Earlier in the week, public health was at risk due to an ambulance strike crisis.
Peadar Tóibín said Government leaders needed to sit down with paramedics to resolve this dispute that’s putting lives at risk”
The Aontú leader says the stress on the ambulance service has been worsening for some time and should never have reached the point of creating a risk to life.
He said: “The ambulance system in this country is under intense strain. It is leading to death and injury. Will you fund this service properly, implement the pay rise and sit down with paramedics to resolve this crisis?”
He highlighted how the service has been under rising pressure in recent years, as revealed in replies to Aontú Parliamentary Questions.
Tóibín urged the Taoiseach and Minister for Health to step in and settle the dispute with the National Ambulance Service, which has been allowed to reach critical levels.
Said Tóibín: “This is now an emergency situation. It needs to be sorted swiftly, ahead of another planned strike next week, and a 72-hour strike the following. If it escalates further, it will be a serious danger to public health.”
The Meath West TD said: “In reply to a PQ in 2023, we found out the service was worsening year on year. For example, the response time for life-threatening cases rose to 28 minutes as a national average.
“That means you could be dying on the side of the road for a half an hour before help would arrive. In some parts of the country, people were waiting hours.”
Said Tóibín: “The crux of it is the job has changed but the pay has not. Ambulance staff need additional training and qualifications for the various different incidents.
“Organisers called on the Minister and the HSE to come to the table and the Health Minister has refused so far, hiding behind the need for “due process” in an industrial relations matter. But the Minister in charge needs to step in, to what is now a stalemate.
“This should have been sorted out a time ago. As anyone paying attention to what was happening knows – this situation is a long time coming.”
Our by-election candidates were in full canvas mode, with voting day next week. In Dublin Central, Ian Noel Smyth highlighted how the hated clamp fee should be reduced down, in the cost-of living crisis.
He highlighted how it had increased 56%, from €80 to €125 in 2022, just before Ireland was hit with record price hikes on everything from fuel to food.
He called on Dublin City Council to reduce the fee back to its earlier levels, saying it is now extortionate. But the main issue coming up on the Dublin doors was immigration, along with crime and rising costs.
In Galway, Deputy Tóibín took to the doors once again with the Aontú Galway West candidate Orla Nugent, who also raised awareness of the cost-of-living effects in the constituency. Peadar and Orla talked about how even families with decent incomes were finding it tough, with consumers being hit with high costs for basics like groceries, energy and petrol. It was the main issue on the doors of Galway West.
