An Irish journalist speaks up

The impression I have is that the Indo has been doing a much better and braver job than the IT. The article linked above is the one notable exception. Anything else I've seen in the IT has been on the letters page.

Eilis o hanlon has written about this before in the Sunday Independent, Stella o malley has also written about trans issues a few times in the Sunday Independent. The Sunday Independent also covered Donal O Shea and Paul Moran protesting any wpath and Crumlin hospital. They're not new to this issue- they've been covering it at least since 2016

Thanks for the link to the Trinity News article.
It's such a pity that the debate is so toxic, that I cannot afford to lose my livelihood by responding to it.

1. Sophie, (writer), you need to look at the BBC report on the coercion of lesbians www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-57853385 . How do you like them apples?

1. Assessment for lots of conditions, particularly those affecting children " can be hours long". As it should be- the clinical responsibility for setting a child on a pathway of lifelong hormonal use is immense.

1. As for your assertion that "hormone replacement therapy, the vast majority of the effects of which are completely reversible and no more harmful than most prescribed medication."...that's just plain wrong.

But mostly, Sophie, I am disappointed that the legacy of Edmund Burke et al. is being cheapened.
Here: www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/gender-distress-treatment-in-young-people-a-highly-charged-debate-1.4602455 the Irish Times has a balanced article discussing different aspects of the issue.

On the back of this, I will be renewing my subscription to the IT. I usually just buy it on a Saturday. But I will let them know why I am going ahead with an annual subscription.

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

It brings to mind the debacle at Sussex.

I hope this generation grows up. Education is currently wasted on them. (Not all of them, but too many).

I like the only comment at the bottom of the Trinity article: "Would it be helpful if you were to provide the Irish Times with a list of approved opinions that their columinsts could have?"

[quote miri1985]Also because of all this nonsense around students boycotting, the IT have made their newspaper free to read online for students and have started a new advertising campaign with the slogan “expect opinions that will challenge you.”

trinitynews.ie/2021/11/the-irish-times-transphobia-must-be-resisted-by-students/[/quote]
The Irish Times was available FOC to students well before this. I don't know if that buy-line is new, but the free availability isn't.

I don't think the IT will notice a dip in sales courtesy of a student boycott.

For anyone looking to read the article @DrBethWallace has it available to read on her twitter

I emailed to show my support for Eilish. Well done to her, she's been the first to break out of the mould and hopefully not the last.

It always surprises me when students seem to want to avoid any opinion but their own, or the socially approved one.

Why are they in university if not to learn ideas and expand their perspectives? Do they really want to stay stuck in their rigid mindset forever?

I do think many of these young people will look back and cringe in 20 years at the nonsense they supported.

@NitroNine, I know what you mean. Back in my day, the protests were about access to contraception. I'm that old now but a boycott of the Irish Times is ludicrous. Absolutely ludicrous. Really a boycott of their stupid old parents, I suppose.

And poor Una Mullally, whose been a stalwart supporter. And the IT Women's Podcast, which is milquetoast on all issues but fearfully compliant on this one.

As a subscribe to the Irish Times, I'm not sorry that I won't be paying for student wittering, if I'm honest.

mobile.twitter.com/EilisOHanIon
She doesn't seem to be planning on backing away from this topic.

Eilis, if you are on MN
Thank you., 🙏

Boycotting The Irish Times?!

Have students run out of companies who’re truly The Big Bad to boycott? I know boycotts of Nestlé have been going since forever; but if they’re desperate for A Cause Of Their Own they’ve plenty to choose from (maybe they could go after brands that pretend to be cruelty free but are sold in China…). Beyond farcical to be having students boycott one of Ireland’s main papers - universities, of all places, becoming total echo chambers…

You start to have visions of students smuggling copies in & passing them around/accessing the dark web to bypass any kind of university block on the digital version…

Hopefully the vote will be in favour of common sense. Maybe what happened with John Cleese and the Cambridge Union last week will help, but things in Higher Education in not only the UK & Ireland but all over the place, though not everywhere - but often that just means other issues [(particularly) for women] - really are in a terrible mess of Safe Spaces/No Platforminging/babying students to an astonishing degree…

(Having got so sidetracked: it’s a brave move to write that article. Hope that Eilís Ó Hanlon* doesn’t have to deal with horrendous response to her article on Twitter by/from TRAs; though she sounds as if she knows to expect it. Which is quite shocking, really: to be so able to predict abuse & the form it will take.)

• I realise that sounds odd but just using her first name felt wrong/overfamiliar & was too tired to wrangle either sentence structure or ridiculous ASD!brain (not that I have one that isn’t neurodivergent, clearly: would make life easier if I did): sorry.

Also because of all this nonsense around students boycotting, the IT have made their newspaper free to read online for students and have started a new advertising campaign with the slogan “expect opinions that will challenge you.”

trinitynews.ie/2021/11/the-irish-times-transphobia-must-be-resisted-by-students/

trinitynews.ie/2021/10/tcdsu-passes-motion-to-hold-referendum-on-boycotting-the-irish-times/

trinitynews.ie/2021/11/tcdsu-referendum-on-irish-times-boycott-scheduled-for-november-24-26/

Either way its going to be news and what was actually said in the times will hopefully actually be read by a few people.

It could well pass, I wouldn't be surprised. You would hope that if it does pass that people will take notice that only a certain type of speech is allowed, it will throw a great big light on everything if it does pass. I would expect Irish media is watching this whole thing very closely

Anyone able to do one of those share tokens? I stopped buying the Independent because they have been very much on the woke side on this issue. Glad to see Eilis put her head above the parapet on this.
I wonder if the Nolan podcast on the Stonewalling of the BBC has put pressure on them to provide more balanced coverage 🤔

It's a shame that they are also the two national dailies that are behind paywalls, and completely unread by anyone under 30, as far as I can see.

Agreed. Normally I find her a bitter pill and far too rightwing. But this stuff is existential. So that is 2 out of 3 serious national dailies platforming GC commentary. At long last !

www.independent.ie/opinion/its-time-to-say-no-to-extremists-who-want-to-let-children-pick-their-gender-41049055.html

It is

Surely it's not in the Independent?

I am amazed anyone is speaking up at all

Yet every single person I'm brave enough to bring this up with in real life agrees with me.

Where is the article?

I never liked Eilís Ó Hanlon and now I'm sorry. Actually, the people who say the things that Recieved Wisdom frowns on are very important.