Dr Martin Mansergh
Three issues are discernible as agenda items in the new Dáil; educational patronage, divorce and abortion, writes Martin Mansergh
It would not be every day that I would be invited to attend a religious ceremony in St Mel’s Cathedral, Longford. Last month, the Ireland 2016-Longford Committee sponsored an ecumenical service with Fr Tom Murray “to mark the coming year and to remember those whose lives were affected by the Easter Rising and its aftermath”.
The best way to experience any church is when it is in use. Being also eager to see the newly restored cathedral, I drove up from Tipperary and back on a winter’s night. Both the service and the interior of the church, which had been gutted by fire in 2009, were immensely uplifting, and a testament to community spirit and leadership, including that of the priests and bishops, both the present Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois Francis Duffy and his predecessor Bishop Colm O’Reilly.
The Rising comm-emoration has stimulated great activity in terms of books, lectures, exhibitions and performances, as well as newspaper reprints, which give an authentic feel for the period.
Comments
The reprint and juxtaposition of two comments (The Revolution Papers 7) made by Constance Markievicz, political companion of James Connolly, as she was released from Aylesbury prison in June 1917, brought a smile to the face: “I shall keep the red flag flying to the end”; “before I leave I would like to say that when I return to Ireland I shall have the happiness of being received into the Catholic Church”.
The same decision was made by Roger Casement before his execution, and by a number of others involved directly or indirectly in the rebellion, at a time of vehement hostility from the other Churches to the very idea of separation in any form.
Walking down the Falls Road in Belfast with veteran Republican Joe Cahill in the summer of 1996, after the IRA ceasefire had broken down, he recalled for my benefit a Protestant friend of his, who had gone and “spoilt it”, politically of course, by turning Catholic.
It is easier now, since the degree of resolution brought about by the Good Friday Agreement, to transcend deep-seated differences and show respect for the identities and traditions of others, without abandoning one’s convictions or loyalties.
It would be good to report that respect for religious beliefs and tradition remains an inherent part of Irish society and is reflected in public discourse, but that would be to ignore a strong push towards secularisation by a minority of political forces, only weakly resisted by the rest, and championed editorially in the national media, with the success of the same-sex marriage/marriage equality referendum providing a template for further campaigns. Three issues are discernible as agenda items in the new Dáil.
Diversity
No one contests the proposition that educational patronage needs to be broadened out to cater for greater parental choice. To achieve this, it is unnecessary to dismantle the system of denominational education, which is already well able to cater for diversity of intake, as is found in most schools.
Fortunately, constitutional protection provides safeguards, without impeding a healthy evolution. Leaving aside political rhetoric and maximalist demands, the problem is eminently soluble.
There are also demands to scrap constitutional restrictions that prevent speedy divorce and require four years’ separation in the previous five years. It was only on that condition that the constitutional ban on divorce was removed by a tiny majority 20 years ago.
While there remain differing views on the effectiveness of that régime, making divorce easier would increase its incidence, make conciliation less effective, and aggravate difficult family and financial problems that accompany divorce and for long after.
The biggest demand is to repeal the Eighth Amendment, prominently championed by Labour. As reported on television but not in the national print media, except the Irish News, the harmonisation of Irish and British law on the lines of the 1967 legislation is what the Labour spokesperson envisages would take its place, a far more radical position than only providing for suicidal ideation or fatal foetal abnormalities.
It is argued that the British 1967 legislation does not provide for abortion on request, but in practice that is how it worked out. If anyone is turned away because they cannot meet the criteria under the act, it is not publicly mentioned.
The only puzzle from an electoral perspective is how this clarification of intent assists the fortunes of the Labour Party. It is unlikely that any partner in government would go that far.
At the same time, small parties and independents on whom governments depend can exercise a decisive influence. The main implication of removing the Eighth Amendment, as opposed to, say, amplifying it, is that it would leave the Oireachtas and the courts free to determine without further reference to the people the scope of legislation facilitating the premature termination of pregnancy, re-establishing the pre-1983 position in a very different climate. It is difficult to see, if this plan were to proceed, how a full-scale confrontation, involving the Church, as has occurred on the Continent, would be avoided.
Disappointing
It is disappointing in the election manifestos that overseas development aid, which has been reduced over the last eight years from nearly 0.6% of GDP to 0.35%, is only the subject of vague promises by the main parties. Social needs should be the priority of the next government and maintenance of the ability to fund them.
The people of Northern Ireland face an important referendum vote on BREXIT in June.
How can BREXIT be best for the United Kingdom, if it greatly increases the chance of its break-up by precipitating a second vote on Scottish independence? If that succeeded, Northern Ireland would be out on a limb and in danger of greater instability. Shared EU membership by Britain and Ireland was integral to the Good Friday Agreement. Northern Ireland leaving the EU would cancel out any benefits of reducing corporation tax.
Responsible British Government leadership surely recognises that we do not need new political and economic divisions in Ireland.