11/07/2013 - 10:23:31
Fine Gael has dismissed as ‘horseplay’ an incident during which Áine Collins was pulled onto the lap of party colleague Tom Barry during the abortion debate in the early hours of the morning.

The party said the Cork North West TD was not offended after she was grabbed by Mr Barry, the Cork East TD during an often tense debate on the controversial legislation.

It is understood Ms Collins commented she was cold and Mr Barry joked he would warm her up.
Sources said the two are close friends and there was no malice involved.

They remarked that the TDs had been working for more 20 hours non-stop and were tired, but accepted the context of the incident would have been better suited to the pub than the Dáil.

Meanwhile two Fine Gael Ministers have branded last night's hijinks as an inappropriate action.
Richard Bruton and Frances Fitzgerald said the incident should not sidetrack the importance of the legislation.
"We acknowledge that was inappropriate but we want to continue important work on an issue that the government is absolutely committed to deliver," said Mr Bruton.
"Last night was a very important debate on critical issues let's not be distracted from that important debate," Ms Fitzgerald added.

Fine Gael has dismissed as ‘horseplay’ an incident during which Áine Collins was pulled onto the lap of party colleague Tom Barry during the abortion debate in the early hours of the morning.

Meanwhile, the Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte said nobody was drunk in the Dáil chamber last night.
Minister Rabbitte said he did not see anyone who showed any sign of drinking to excess.
"There wasn't anybody in my sight in the last vote which I think was about 4.50am this morning who had any sign of having taken alcohol to excess," he said.
"Nobody that I could see."

“GOVERNMENT TURNS A BLIND EYE TO MEDICAL EVIDENCE AND LEGALIZES DEATH PENALTY FOR UNBORN CHILDREN” SAY PRO-LIFE GROUPSJUL. 12, 2013
Pro-life groups have strongly condemned the Government’s decision to ram through its flawed abortion legislation, labelling it as a “betrayal of unborn children, a betrayal of a party promise and a betrayal of the Irish people”. They have called for the Bill to be put to the people in a referendum under Article 27. Admiration was expressed for the deputies who had put principle before politics to vote No to the bill, while other politicians have been described as 'spineless and amoral' for breaking their pro-life promise.

Speaking outside the Dáil today where the legislation was being discussed, Clare Molloy of Youth Defence described it as a “dark day for Ireland when the legislature close their ears to the medical evidence, turn their backs on the electorate to which they promised no abortion legislation, and have now legalised the death penalty for innocent unborn children."

“This bill is barbaric,” said Ms. Molloy. "As Labour TD Roisin Shortall has pointed out, it has no term limits. It allows for the direct killing of a physically healthy baby being carried by a physically healthy mother and allows it through all nine months of pregnancy”. She continued “what kind of politician or doctors approves the killing of a fully formed human being at 22 weeks by lethal injection to the heart. Our leading doctors are opposing this legislation; because, as one if them told the Oireachtas Committee, the Bill legalises the mindless assassination of innocent human beings”.

“We know that abortion is not a treatment for ѕυιcιdє, the psychiatrists are blue in the face from telling Enda Kenny that, but yet he chooses to ignore this evidence and says his hands are tied by the Supreme Court decision in the X Case. It  is now clear that that decision was fundamentally flawed because we didn’t have the evidence that we now know. Clean out your ears Taoiseach, if a decision is wrong then we shouldn’t follow it. The people are the final courts of appeal in this democracy and 86% of us want a referendum” Ms. Molloy concluded.

Niamh Ui Bhriain of the Life Institute said Mr Kenny was acting in an “autocratic and bullying manner and had trampled all over conscience rights by denying a free vote within his party on an issue that was deeply conscientious and on which strong views were held”. She went on to say that the electorate would not forget the vindictive action taken by Mr Kenny in inflicting such harsh sanctions and penalties on those party colleagues who dared to defy his authoritarian whip.

“It disgusts me that the Taoiseach would demand that his party colleagues should vote in favour of this horrific and fundamentally flawed piece of legislation and threaten them with being thrown out of the party if they fail to do so. What kind of a leader is he? What kind of a leader throws a colleague out of the party for doing exactly what they told their electorate they were going to do before election?” she said.

Both the Life Institute and Youth Defence called for a vote on this legislation under Article 27 of the Irish Constitution. They said the huge Rally for Life which attracted 60,000 people last weekend, showed the pro life movement was committed and mobilised and would be now open to the new political alternative created by Kenny's abortion bill.

Would you say that the majority of the Irish people are against abortion being legalized? If so, did the pro-aborts take this into consideration at all? Did Church leaders in Ireland speak out at all? I haven't been following this issue in Ireland, so I'm not familiar with the details. It's very sad, though, that the taking of innocent life in the womb is now legal. I hope that it can somehow be overturned.

Did Church leaders in Ireland speak out at all?

Some have spoken of calling for a referendum. Depending on the wording, I would see a referendum favouring the pro-abortion lobby and the danger is people would vote for abortion in cases of rape or "foetal abnormality".