A pro-life poster is seen in front of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. Photo: CNS The National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) has failed to provide clarification of a comment made by its director despite attempts by The Irish Catholic to seek clarity.
The Irish Catholic sought to clarify Director Orla O’Connor’s comment in a March 22 op-ed for the Irish Examiner that “We urgently need…careful monitoring of conscience-based refusal of abortion”. A number of phonecalls and an email went unanswered, with no clarification offered.
This comes as the NWCI faces calls for its defunding in the wake of a Liveline debate which saw a member of women’s group The Countess express women’s disappointment at their exclusion from the NWCI’s AGM June 9.
The debate saw members of the public question whether NWCI supports moves which would see the word “woman” replaced in specific legislation with the gender-neutral term “person”.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic newspaper, Senator Sharon Keogan said that she’s “absolutely delighted” with the conversation and that “if they’ve got the support that they think they have, then they shouldn’t be getting Government funding.
“They should be self-sufficient,” she said.
“I think women are sitting up now. They’re looking at the National Women’s Council in a way that they probably hadn’t looked at them before, and they’re now saying, ‘Are they really a women’s council?’ Or are they just going to represent anyone that identifies as a woman?
“You can’t legislate on feelings. Feelings are not something that we legislate for. You just can’t do that. Nobody wants to upset or marginalise anyone or make somebody’s voice less valuable. However, you cannot step on women and allow the trans community to supersede what women have stood for for centuries,” she said.
Senator Keogan added that the NWCI may have to “sit up now and reflect on who they really do represent”.