Thursday, January 22, 2015
Silence of the Irish Lambs
There is silence as the Irish government gears up to rubber stamp a sham inquiry into the treatment of unwed mothers and their infants.
They know it's a sham. We know it's a sham. The U.N. Human Rights Committee has already called it a sham before it's begun. But with days to go - there is silence.
The world's media gathered to witness with horror our private Irish tragedy. They left us to face up to our past. Pity they left. No Irish Government or civil service have ever faced such issues willingly. We know that now since they left.
The silence leaves me deeply uncomfortable. I recognize it. It's the same silence which was thick in the air --yet unseen-- down the years. As women were quietly emotionally butchered behind the high walls. It's the same high walls. It's the same silence.
It's the same silence and nothing has changed. We just thought it had. The global media spotlight unknowingly deceived us. But the Government deceived us too:
- they switched ministers from Flanagan to Reilly to delay matters;
- they promised again - but delayed to dim the media spotlight;
- they launched the inquiry on a Friday to hinder public interest;
- they made the mothers and adopted wait like fools in a separate(!) room while the minister publicly launched his minimal inquiry terms of reference;
- the inquiry terms somehow manage not to address either justice or recompense;
- furthermore, the terms of reference have excluded two thirds of the women;
- finally they cut the Dail debate on the terms into two half-debates a week apart!
That second half of the debate comes next Wednesday.
We are about to strip these women of their human rights in full view of an uninformed public; an asleep media and an uncaring establishment. And the silence is deafening.
Well, I don't know about you, but I'll tell you one thing:
As Irish authorities create an official inquiry into the treatment of unwed
mothers and their babies, Mari Steed, Claire McGettrick, Susan Lohan
and Kathy McMahon join Fintan Dunne to expose the coverup
of Ireland's forced adoptions.
Excellent work Fintan & Kathy, it's a truly haunting story.
Keep pushing.
In Spain there is a very similar problem.
Maybe you would like to get in touch with Mar Soriano Ruiz, from PLATAFORMA AFECTADOS CLÍNICAS DE TODA ESPAÑA. CAUSA NIÑOS ROBADOS - (PLATFORM AFFECTED CLINICAL SPAIN. CAUSE STOLEN CHILDREN)
When I did the audio above we were under pressure from a Gov.
propaganda snow job designed to paint their inquiry as a success
acceptable to all. They even had their own pet stooges to spin that.
Well, we rallied a great turnout and we were there outside as the
inquiry was debated in parliament, with about 30 activists seated
in the public gallery, to breathe down their necks as the debate
entered its final hour.
It didn't go well for the government. One of the elected representatives
whose party formed government was actually born in a mother and
baby home herself.
And she didn't like the look of her own government's inquiry!
No amount of persuasion (and they tried, real hard)
would get her to vote for the inquiry.
more below...
So, it's now well on the record that the planned inquiry is a sham.
And our pressure to extend the scale and scope will continue.
And fortunately the pressure on Kathy and I has
eased back to normal levels of 'totally maxed.'
So from now I will be back on BFN again.
Not a bad start to 2015 though.... _________________ Minds are like parachutes.
They only function when open.
Just to show you the shits we are up against,
here's CNN's appalling story of what happened
to 1,500 women who had their pelvis sawed
in half to ensure their continued birth delivery
of new little Catholics:
Folks, we launched a challenge
to the government's inquiry
in the last two days:
Here's the highlights:
Quote:
Court Challenge to Irish Mother and Baby Inquiry
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Founder of the Irish First Mothers support group for adoption birth mothers, Kathy McMahon has today formally notified Irish government minister for Children and Youth Affairs, James Reilly of intent to challenge in the Irish High court the process of the recently-instituted 'Mother and Baby Homes' inquiry.
The challenge is grounded in public statements by the Acting Secretary General (now Assistant Secretary) of the Department, Ms. Liz Canavan at the press announcement of the inquiry.
The birth mothers group asserts that Ms.Canavan's senior roles in Irish civil service administration and as CEO of the Adoption Authority of Ireland conflict with her potential oversight of the inquiry via adjustments to it's terms of reference under the minister's order.
The import is that the current process violates the legal dictum of "Nemo judex in causa sua," viz. that one cannot be judge in one's own case - and thus justice cannot be seen to be done.
"I call people of good will towards birth mothers to assist us," says Kathy McMahon. "We cannot allow this already flawed inquiry to be further influenced by persons close to matters under investigation."
Read Irish First Mother's notice letter to Minister James Reilly:
Read the letter- well-researched, professional and pertinent.
Keep hammering the nails of probity and conflict of interest!
They permeate all the other issues in Ireland; evictions, policing, Irish Water etc. etc.
I once had to defend myself from an attack from my professional nemesis and with one email I got 'conflict of interest' written into the rulebook...
Quote:
From 'IBEN Terms and Conditions 2013'-
'16. Conflict of Interest for school visits: Your interest in participating in any of the IBAEM visits is taken to indicate that: You had no personal or professional relationship with this school or any member of its staff which might be a potential conflict of interest to your participation in this visit. You have not participated in a consultation, authorization, evaluation visit to this school unless specifically asked by the regional office'.
Looks like Liz Canavan would fail that condition...
And here are some interesting facts that she has written about herself on LinkedIn-
Quote:
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Leaders for Tomorrow Programme 2000-2002
(after an Arts degree at DCU)
Quote:
Assistant Secretary
Irish Civil Service
October 2011 – Present (3 years 6 months)
• Project lead for the 31st Amendment to the Constitution (Children) Bill, 2012
• Responsibility for policy development for the Government’s programme in respect of child welfare, protection and family support in Ireland
• Responsibility for the legislative programme for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs
• Policy and project lead for the reform programme for children’s services in Ireland, in particular, the establishment of the Child and Family Support Agency
• Oversight, monitoring and performance management for child and family services under the remit of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs
Chief Executive Officer
Adoption Authority of Ireland
April 2011 – October 2011 (7 months)
• Advising and supporting the Board in exercising functions of a judicial nature conferred on the Authority under the Adoption Act, 2010
• Ongoing general management and control of the administration and business of the Authority including change management associated with new legal framework
• Liaison with the Health Services Executive, Stakeholder Groups and National and International Statutory Bodies involved in adoption including the Hague Conference on Private International Law;
• Managing press and media response and briefing the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Minister as required in respect of parliamentary affairs
• Representing the Authority and the Government in international negotiations on a bilateral and multilateral basis
Principal Officer / Deputy Director National Children's Office
Department of Health and Children
2004 – 2011 (7 years)Office of the Minister for Children/National Children's Office
Giving strategic leadership to and promoting the modernisation agenda for children’s services including:- the Working Together for Children Initiative; the Prevention and Early Intervention Programme for Children; fostering collaborative relationships between statutory, non-statutory providers, philanthropy and academic interests in prevention and early intervention science; building capacity research to policy and practice in children's services
Leading policy development in the the 28th Amendment to the Constitution Bill, 2008; supporting the development of adoption policy and the Adoption Act, 2010 (2008-10); providing leadership in the areas of youth work (2009-11) national play and recreation policies (2007-11);
Monitoring Ireland’s international obligations and reporting in relation to children’s rights (2004-2011)
Providing policy advice to the Minister on these matters including in politically highly sensitive areas relating to children’s rights, the constitutional amendment and adoption policy.
Principal Officer/Assistant Principal Officer
Department of Health and Children
2001 – 2004 (3 years)
• Supporting the development and implementation of policy for the Health Reform Programme
• Supporting the Secretary General in the establishment of the interim Health Service Executive.
• Member of the project team for the development of the National Health Strategy for Ireland (2001) with project management and policy writing roles
• Leading communications programme to disseminate the Health Strategy
• Developing and implementing arrangements for assessing progress on the implementation of the Health Strategy
'For tis the sport to see the engineer hoist by his own petard...'
Hamlet. _________________ 'Essayons de ne pas rire avant la fin d'Hamlet'-'Let us try not to laugh before the end of Hamlet'- Pierre Desproges.
Just when they thought the
cover-up was going dandy:
Quote:
Irish State Covered-Up 2012 Tuam Baby Deaths Report
A damning Irish health services review of infant deaths and other anomalies, in Bessborough and Tuam mother and baby homes took place in 2012. But the report was not disclosed by the government during civil consultations on the terms of its official inquiry - now underway into the homes.
The Irish Examiner newspaper revealed today that the 2012 report confirmed the scale of the deaths and anomalies which would later achieve such prominence. So troubled were the authors, says the paper, that they urged the State to immediately establish an official judicial inquiry based on its findings. Nothing happened.
Two years later, a fortunate international media spotlight on claims that around 800 infants were interred in Tuam, prompted the government to established an inter-departmental committee to coordinate its response. But the committee was blind to the previous investigation under the Dept. of Justice, even as it set up a "new" inquiry guided by the Dept. Children & Youth Affairs.
All of which has the appearance of a complete betrayal of our trust by the Government. Gross negligence or outright cover-up? If the latter, the new inquiry is just a hollow facade, born of deception - and ongoing cover-up dynamics.
Here is a brief list of other dubious government tactics:
- The inquiry terms were launched on a Friday to hinder public interest;
- Mothers and adopted were made to wait like fools in a separate(!) room while the minister launched his terms of reference to media;
- the inquiry terms do not address either justice or recompense;
- the terms have excluded two thirds of the women affected;
Click extract below for full Examiner article:
Posted 4 hours ago by Kathy McMahon
_________________ Minds are like parachutes.
They only function when open.
Our heritage is a "Culture of Ownership" over naturally free beings.
At one time or another it has claimed a right to to own (and abuse):
the Earth, entire nations, slaves, women, dogs and children.
.
. _________________ Minds are like parachutes.
They only function when open.
Last edited by Fintan on Tue Jun 23, 2015 12:37 pm; edited 2 times in total
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