Labour Party Seanad Spokesperson on Justice, Equality and Law Reform
Wednesday 10th  March 2010

BACIK CALLS FOR DEBATE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESPONSE TO MURPHY REPORT

Speaking today in the Seanad, Senator Ivana Bacik called for a debate to take place on the response of the criminal justice system to the revelations in the Murphy Report (the report of the Commission enquiring into clerical child sexual abuse in the Dublin archdiocese).

Speaking about the issue, Senator Bacik said

"This debate is necessary following the broadcast of last night’s BBC Newsnight programme, which focused upon a man named in the Murphy Report as one of the most serious serial sexual abusers investigated by the Commission. This man, Bill Carney, has for the past ten years been running a family-friendly guesthouse in St. Andrews, Scotland. This is despite the fact that he was convicted of sex abuse offences in Dublin in 1983 and defrocked by the Catholic Church in 1992. The Murphy report stated that allegations or complaints of child sexual abuse have been made against Bill Carney by over 30 individuals. One young man, Paul Dwyer, was named in the BBC report as having very tragically committed suicide after being informed that no prosecution would be taken against Bill Carney in respect of his complaint.”

Senator Bacik continued that:

“Despite all this, no action appears to have been taken against Bill Carney by the Irish authorities to date on foot of the complaints against him. The Dublin Archdiocese said they did not know Bill Carney’s address, yet the BBC Newsnight team were able to locate him very easily, and it is clear the Irish authorities had his address as an Irish passport was recently issued to him. Minister Dermot Ahern has said in response to the Murphy Report that the full powers of the criminal law would be applied to child sex abusers, yet nothing has been done about Bill Carney."

ENDS.

Labour Party Seanad Spokesperson on Justice, Equality and Law Reform
Tuesday, 9th March 2010

BACIK CALLS FOR DEBATE ON WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS

Speaking today in the Seanad, Senator Ivana Bacik, together with colleagues in Fine Gael, called a vote to amend the order of business to allow for a debate to take place today on the Joint Oireachtas Justice Committee report on women’s participation in politics.

Speaking about the issue, Senator Bacik said, "We were promised that a debate on women’s participation in politics would take place today to mark International Women’s Day, but now it is not on the agenda.

“This is an important issue on which we achieved consensus at the Justice Committee, and we need to have this debate in order to increase the numbers of women entering politics.

“Ireland has a shameful record, we still have a Dáil that is 86 per cent male, and our place in international rankings on women’s representation has fallen in recent years. Action needs to be taken to change this."

ENDS.

Labour Party Seanad Spokesperson on Justice, Equality and Law Reform
8th March 2010

Speaking today at a Dublin Book Festival event on the subject ‘Legacies of Feminism’, Senator Ivana Bacik will call for a change in the law to enable male employees to take paid paternity leave.

Outlining the many ways in which women continue to face discrimination, in the law, the workplace and in society generally, Senator Bacik noted that because of the gender pay-gap - the disparity in earnings between men and women - it usually costs more for a father to give up work to care for a child. Even though a right to unpaid parental leave exists for both parents, men are much less likely to take this leave.

Calling for a change in the law, Senator Bacik said:

“The State must give fathers recognition in the workplace – by legislating for the right to take even a few weeks’ paid paternity leave. It is most unfair on men, women and children that the parenting responsibilities of fathers specifically are not given any legal acknowledgement in their employment. In practice, men have to take holiday leave or unpaid leave if they wish to be at home for the birth of their child or to help their partner in the weeks after the birth. Paid paternity leave must be introduced here, as it has been in Britain, to reflect the reality that mothers do not have sole responsibility for parenting. In my view, support for paid paternity leave must be an integral part of any feminist agenda.”

ENDS    

Senator Ivana Bacik: I will be brief. First, will the Leader confirm we will be having a debate on women’s participation in politics next Tuesday? Second, I support calls for a debate on banking. We need to ask two key questions in this House. Why can Postbank be allowed go to the wall and yet Anglo Irish Bank is apparently of such systemic importance that it must be saved no matter what at enormous cost to the taxpayer? Why are the citizens of Iceland being asked their views on a bail-out for the banks and the citizens of Ireland are not?

Finally, I congratulate Corn Exchange Theatre Company and ask for a debate on theatre funding. Corn Exchange Theatre Company got two awards yesterday — I am a member of its board — yet its funding has been cut by the Arts Council. We need an urgent debate on Arts Council funding and on sufficient funding for the arts.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0224/1224265087452.html

In this article McNally looks at the phenomenon of Twitter, mentioning my recent tweet and my come-back to Twitter!

To follow me on Twitter, see: twitter.com/ivanabacik

Senator Ivana Bacik: Will the Leader arrange a debate on the timing of debates? It was deeply ironic that yesterday on the same day we debated the welcome initiative relating to children’s rights, we also debated the outrageous cuts to the number of SNAs for children with special needs. It is wrong that on the one hand the Government is speaking forcefully about the rights of children while, on the other, it is cutting services to vulnerable children.

Senators:  Hear, hear.

Senator Ivana Bacik: I also seek a debate on the preservation of our history. This has been an historic week in the context of political upheaval and resignations. I refer to a matter raised by Senator Quinn weeks ago regarding the National Archives.

It has been proposed that the National Archives of Ireland and the Irish Manuscripts Commission should be merged into the National Library of Ireland, which has given rise to an enormous concern among archivists and historians. This was mooted in October 2008 and Senator Quinn raised the proposal in this House on 20 January. The proposal has generated considerable publicity and a good deal of controversy and I seek a debate on it and for the Government to inform Members whether it intends to stand over it. It would be against all current thinking on the need to preserve national archives independently and would, as some commentators have remarked, enable us to mark the 90th anniversary of the Four Courts bombardment in a highly disturbing fashion, in that it again would result in the downgrading of the preservation of our records.

Finally, on foot of the excellent “Prime Time” documentary broadcast last week, I seek a debate on maternity services and on the need for an inquiry into the barbaric practice of symphysiotomy. It appears as though this practice was carried out in Irish maternity hospitals until the mid-1980s, long after it had been utterly discredited in maternity hospitals elsewhere. An independent inquiry is needed in this regard and the Minister for Health and Children has not given an adequate response as to the reason she will not permit one. I wish to express my support of both the survivors of symphysiotomy and of AIMS Ireland, an organisation which seeks improvements in maternity services in Ireland, in its call for a comprehensive debate on the issue of consent in maternity care, the treatment of women in maternity hospitals and on the reason an independent inquiry is not being held into the barbaric practice of symphysiotomy.

To read Miriam Lord’s Week (The Irish Times; 20th February 2010), and learn all about Senator Bacik’s "ire" with the "convenient convenience", click on the following link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0220/1224264880116.html

Senator Ivana Bacik: I join Senator Fitzgerald in expressing concern about the outcome of the bishops’ talks in the Vatican. It is appropriate, given the enormous influence the bishops continue to have in the institutions of the State through the system of patronage of schools, that we express our concern, as legislators, about the lack of any sense of responsibility or accountability on the part of the Vatican for the appalling abuse of children that continued for so many years in our religious-run and State-funded institutions. It is relevant for us. On the day that is in it, I ask for a debate on the relationship between the church and the State and, in the light of what Senator O’Toole said, on the ongoing control of the churches, particularly the Catholic Church, of our national school system. Considering that 92% of national schools are still run by the Catholic Church, it is important that we debate the relationship between church and State. Yesterday I expressed concern about the recognition by the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O’Keeffe, of two new Catholic schools at a time when parents were crying out for more choice in education and more multi-denominational schools. Archbishop Martin has recognised this. We need to debate the issue as a matter of urgency.

Let us not stop with the education system; let us also debate the role of prayer in our national institutions. Why, for example, do we have a prayer every time the Seanad sits? Why does the national broadcaster still broadcast the “Angelus”?

Senator Donie Cassidy: We are proud of them.

Senator Ivana Bacik: These are issues on which people on both sides have very strong views. Therefore, we need to debate them.

The influence of the Catholic Church on the Constitution is still felt very strongly in respect of the role of women. It is very welcome to see a proposal to have a constitutional amendment to enshrine the rights of children in the Constitution. I am glad to see the place of parents, as carers of children, is recognised. We could include the phrase “parents of guardians” but that is a matter for debate. When talking about parents in respect of the new children’s rights amendment, we should be deleting from the Constitution the specific reference to mothers which remains in Article 41 and which has been condemned internationally and by our national review groups, including the expert Constitution review group in 2006. We should be replacing the reference with one that recognises the role of carers. I refer to gender-neutral recognition to allow fathers a place in the Constitution and remove the outdated notion that it is only women who have caring responsibilities in the home. Why not hold that non-controversial referendum at the same time as the children’s rights referendum? They are closely linked and it would improve the children’s rights referendum, improve the Constitution significantly and contribute to our status as a developing pluralist republic and move us away from the unhealthy dominance of the Catholic Church that still lives on in so many institutions.