Mary Kenny
Alice Leahy There could hardly be a more worthy recipient of an international honour and human rights award than Alice Leahy, who has just received such an award presented by the International Care Ethics Observatory.
Alice is usually described as a “homelessness campaigner”, but she is much more than that. She is also a carer for homeless people and rough sleepers, and has been since she founded Trust back in 1975.
She has a profound understanding and compassion for street people, and, as a former nurse, an insight into their problems. (She has authored a book, Wasting Time With People, which gives a comprehensive glimpse of her work over more than 40 years.)
Homelessness on one level is about bricks and mortar – there isn’t enough supply for the demands of a rising population (and a rising population is a good thing).
But there is another aspect of homelessness which can be about mental health, isolation, drug and alcohol dependency and issues which have as much to do with the care of the person as with accommodation.
Alice Leahy has never sought any honour, but by heavens, she merits one.
Yet isn’t it regrettable that honours to an admirable Irish citizen have to be awarded by an international body? Isn’t it a pity that Ireland is among the minority of nations which has no honours system of its own?
True, national honours can be corrupted by political power, and handed to people who know how to manipulate the system. The British honours system is at present under scrutiny here: there are questions about individuals obtaining honours who haven’t even paid their taxes.
Yet it must be possible to organise an honours system which would be rigorous and not just a form of celebrity endorsement. Because Alice Leahy should surely be honoured by her own country, not just an international nursing body.
Baudoin by example?
What should President Higgins do when President Donald Trump makes a formal visit to Aras an Uachtarain in November? It’s embarrassing for Michael D., who has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump, and who led a protest against Ronad Reagan’s policies in Central America when the Reagans visited Ireland in 1984.
It must be an abhorrent thought for An tUactaran to meet and greet a leader who is a lot harsher in his political attitudes than Ronnie Reagan.
Here’s my suggestion about how the encounter can be avoided: the late King Baudoin of the Belgians resigned from the monarchy for a day because he could not bring himself, in conscience, to sign into law an abortion bill. This created a precedent for a Head of State to recuse himself, or herself, for a brief period on grounds of conscience.
Michael D. could do likewise.
It would be a braver way to face the dilemma than having a diplomatic illness.
Yes, it’s possible that, after the presidential election here in October, President Higgins will no longer be Head of State. Possible, but not probable. I think he may have to consider the Baudoin route.
Widespread threat of abuse
The British Home Secretary Sajid Javid [pictured] has been horrified to be informed that there are some 80,000 people in the UK who are a “danger to children”. And the internet is the main channel of abuse. Mr Javid has made it his mission to combat this scourge of paedophile crime, which, he says, is growing worse and is facilitated by ever more sophisticated technology.
It’s a horrific scenario: but it’s a reminder, too, that this is a wider societal problem; not, as often suggested in Ireland, solely an issue of clerical celibacy or clerical power.