Senator concerned over Maynooth collaboration with pro-abortion lobbyists

Senator Rónán Mullen sent a letter to Maynooth’s president, questioning the ethics of their collaboration on a survey about “anti-choice protests”.

The university is collaborating with Together for Safety, a pro-abortion lobby group who are gathering information on “protests” outside abortion facilities.

Mr Mullen called the group’s survey the “antithesis of objective academic research”. He added that the lobby group appears to be carrying out the research “for the sole purpose of furthering their existing campaigning position”.

“How can Maynooth University support such a departure from the standards of objectivity which it would rightly expect in other areas,” the senator wrote in his letter.

He finished the letter by asking a series of questions, including whether it is “ethical for Maynooth University or any other institution to promote or sponsor academic research” where the research is “manifestly being conducted” to further a “political campaign to change the law”.