The image used by the Women's Council X (Twitter) account for the post A social media post from the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) linking St Brigid to a push for liberalisation of Ireland’s abortion laws has been criticised by a spokesperson for the Pro-Life Campaign as “deeply offensive to Christians”.
Eilís Mulroy of the PLC also called for the defunding of the NWCI and said that they will be resurrecting a campaign to defund the group.
“I think the National Women’s Council should be more sensitive to how people would feel about them linking a Christian saint to a campaign for more abortion. I think that the National Women’s Council don’t really take on board the views of women generally,”
Ms Mulroy told The Irish Catholic newspaper. “They’re out of step with the clear majority of women because a clear majority of women do not support the National Women’s Council’s stance which is in favour of late-term abortion.”
The NWCI’s post contained a picture of a Saint Brigid’s cross accompanied by the words, “St Brigid and abortion in Ireland”. They encouraged Government to consider ways in which it might provide expanded access to abortion.
“The incredible thing is that they are funded so significantly by the Government, by the taxpayer,” Ms Mulroy said.
“In 2021, in their annual report, they say themselves that they had 1.1 million euro in total income and of that, at least 962,000 was directly related to State funding. That’s nearly 84.5% of their total income is from the State, so for a taxpayer funded group like them, to never seek the views or represent the concerns of women who oppose abortion is really indefensible.”
“It’s time really that the Government dispensed with the myth that the National Women’s Council of Ireland represent anyone’s views except for its own. They don’t take on board the views of many, many women. I think that they should be defunded,” she said.