Catherine Connolly TD has said that the Eighth Amendment has caused ‘appalling suffering to women and loss of life’ in her speech on the Eighth Amendment yesterday.

Statements on the Thirty-Sixth Amendment to the Constitution Bill recommenced yesterday following the St. Patrick’s break.

“I want to correct a number of things,” said Deputy Connolly, “that we are rushing through legislation.”

“1983 was the Amendment. 1992 was the X-Case. And it is important to point out that it was a 14-year-old girl that had been subjected to repeated sexual abuse for 18 months culminating in a rape. And that poor girl who is now and adult and that family are living with that legacy and this Dáil talking about the X Case continuously.

“And during the course of that judgement as I said, the Supreme Court excoriated the government of the time for not bringing the legislation.”

Connolly criticised the government of the time for not taking action and for allowing the many cases that followed the X Case to take place.

“Look at the figures that are leaving on a daily basis. Let’s be precise and use the figures from the digest. 5,650 women between 2010 and 2015 who have used abortion pills.

“3,265 women which each county every single year, in this country leaving to go.

“Will we ignore all of those? Or will we look at the profile of those? And the profile is not what we imagine. The profile is largely between 20 and 40.

“Sixty-nine percent of abortions took place below nine weeks gestation. Forty-nine percent of the women were married or in a civil partnership. This is the profile of the 3,265 people who were leaving our shores every single year. That’s the profile and we want to ignore that and pretend that it doesn’t exist.

“Well I certainly, as a woman, can’t pretend that it doesn’t exist.

“And I reluctantly talk about my personal circumstances –  I am somebody who comes from a large family. A family of fourteen, in fact. Equally balanced at the time, seven and seven. [I am] someone who suffered the loss of a mother at a young age. I bring that in, not on an emotional level, but to say that we are not pro-life is absolutely insulting.

“But it’s worse than insulting. It’s dangerous. Because it’s seeking to polarise a debate that should not be polarised. It’s preventing a debate based on evidence and facts, and it’s allowing a myth to continue that the Eighth Amendment saves lives when it has actively caused the deaths of women and to seriously suffer. It has also seriously disabled and dis-empowered them.

“Finally, to criminalise abortion and to have a fourteen year penalty in the twenty-first century – words fail me. The purpose is to terrorise, to isolate, to demonise,” said Deputy Connolly.

Deputy Connolly concluded by saying while she would disagree with Minister Simon Harris on many other matters -such as health, especially in Galway City – she wanted to thank the Minister for his approach to date on this issue.

Galway East TD Anne Rabbitte has called on Minister Katherine Zappone to address the anomaly between the upper age limit for children on the Early Childhood Care and Education scheme and the age that they must start primary school.

Changes were made to the Over Age Exemption in the free pre-school programme earlier this year.

The Over Age Exemption allowed children with disabilities to attend an ECCE place for longer before attending primary school, giving them more time to prepare for this change.

Deputy Rabbitte explained: “Earlier this year, the Minister for Children & Youth Affairs arbitrarily decided that children must complete their ECCE participation by the time that they are 5 years and 6 months old, which depending on the month in which children are born, could see them start school before the age of five rather than before the age of six.

“This has become a major concern source of concern for parents of children with additional needs, as they are worried that their kids will not have enough time to prepare for the transition to primary school.  Previously, the Department of Children had allowed these children more flexibility in their ECCE enrolment so that they would be nearer to six when they were starting primary school.

“This was termed an overage exemption and gave children who needed it extra time to develop, access additional supports. They could then enter school when they were ready.

“By abolishing this arrangement, the Department is effectively dictating when children are enrolled in the ECCE and removing any additional developmental time from children who need it. I am calling on the Minister to restore the ECCE overage exemption and allow parents to choose what is best for their children,” concluded Rabbitte.

The confirmation from Minster Zappone that the Time 4 Us service is to continue to operate after the 31 March has been welcomed by Catherine Connolly TD, who campaigned with a number of Galway politicians, users of the service and members of the legal profession to keep the service operating.

The Minister announced last week that the family service will continue after the end of March.

Connolly contacted the Directors of Time 4 Us to clarify why they felt obliged to announce the closure of the service, when the issue was brought to her attention.

The Board of Time4Us confirmed that the core difficulties were the lack of appropriate governance structures along with appropriate skill mix on the Board.

Having clarified that it was a matter of the absence of appropriate governance structures, Deputy Connolly then raised the matter in the Dáil.

However, while welcoming the confirmation that the service is to continue to operate, Deputy Connolly says that she  is still seeking clarification on a few matters.

They include: the nature and details of the transition phase, including confirmation that Time 4 Us will continue to operate in the Shantalla location pending the move to Doughiska; when the service moves, that it will provide the same service albeit under a different governance structure; and clarification in relation to the staff currently employed at the Shantalla location and whether they will be transferred to Doughiska.

After opening their doors in December 2017, Ground & Co, Salthill has hit the ground running.

And it has just given us one more reason to love Salthill.

Entrepreneur and well-known cafe owner Kevin Nugent created Ground & Co in Salthill just three months ago, and the kitchen has now joined up with West of Ireland charity Cancer Care West as their catering partner.

Niamh Gallagher General Manager for Ground and Co said that it is a privilege to cater for guests of Cancer Care West.

“The guests arrive on a Monday and leave on a Friday morning. During the week they are going for various treatments for cancer. We cater for breakfast and evening tea. Whatever the needs of the guests are, we will accommodate them,” she said.

“They have enough going on with treatments, so if we can make the day a little better through good food and great coffee then that is our job done!”

Owner Kevin Nugent said: “We ended 2017 on a high with the opening of Ground & Co. The support from so many people has been over whelming and something I am so grateful for. I have an excellent team across the business and I am very excited for the future.

“This recent catering contract with Cancer Care West has been a fantastic achievement for us but we have been building our catering division since 2013. Now with Leroy and Niamh we can take the catering business to the next level. This will be a big year for Ground & Co and Mr Waffle – truly exciting times ahead!”