Repeal the 8th

[SnowWhitesRestingBitchFace]

So DH and I are currently visiting my DF and DStepM in Southern Ireland (where I grew up).

Just answered the door to a couple who are looking for support in the referendum and wanted us to pledge that we would vote no.

No for context I am just 6 weeks away from giving birth to DC3 (so clearly very heavily pregnant) and they still had the audacity to argue with me when I said I didn't agree with them and I supported any woman's right to decide what happens to her body.

They started trying to show me pictures of 10 week old babies in the womb (not necessary obviously in the circumstances) and weren't pleased that I didn't agree with them given that I'm carrying a baby myself.

I'm sorry I don't really have an actual AIBU I just wanted to rant a bit and show support for the people who have to face this absolute shit every day until the referendum. We're going home to the UK on Thursday so I won't have it all thrown in my face anymore but I just think the guilt tripping is horrendous 😞

The problem with this debate in a country like Ireland is that the bible is clear where it stands

Why would that make any difference in "a country like Ireland"? (and what is a country like Ireland, exactly?)

I thought it says you have to be 18 in or before the electoral register came out on the 15th of Feb. The only reason I know this is my son turned 18 last month. This came from the citizen advice post you posted.

To be eligible to be included in the Register of Electors, you must:
Be at least 18 years old on the day the Register comes into force (15 February)
Have been ordinarily resident in the State on 1 September in the year preceding the coming into force of the Register.

Ah I just now understand the last piece of your post. Everywhere I looked had the cut off of Feb 15. Thanks for clarifying that for me, I thought my son couldn't vote as he only turned 18 last month. Will get the form filled out. Thanks again😁

*I thought it says you have to be 18 in or before the electoral register came out on the 15th of Feb. The only reason I know this is my son turned 18 last month. This came from the citizen advice post you posted.

To be eligible to be included in the Register of Electors, you must:
Be at least 18 years old on the day the Register comes into force (15 February)
Have been ordinarily resident in the State on 1 September in the year preceding the coming into force of the Register.*

You can be included in a supplement version if there is a referendum or election coming up (see my second post) I confirmed it with them yesterday on the phone, you can still get your son registered, fill out this form and get it into too your local city or county council before may 8th!

www.checktheregister.ie/appforms/rfa2_english_form.pdf

sorry cross post!

Hope the law is changed. It's bollocks.

Not sure why you said "Southern Ireland" in your op , though.

@DownWithThatSortofTing

"Why would that make any difference in "a country like Ireland"?"

ARe you joking? I take it from your username that you're Irish. I am although left a long time ago.

Ireland has a higher percentage of people who would describe themselves as religious than many other countries. Many of those are Catholic which is a somewhat outspoken and backwards looking religion and one which meddles in / tries to hold back Irish politics. I remember when that truly nasty cunt Teresa came to Ireland to campaign against divorce "whatever the circumstances".

I think that the clergy and their opinions hold far more sway in Ireland than many other developed countries.

"what is a country like Ireland, exactly?"

It's a religious, rural country with a real problem with a lack of clear boundary between the church. It struggles to keep the church out of its day-to-day life and is well behind the times with regard to atheists being able to 'come out of the closet'.

The same could be said for the US where nearly half the population believe in creationism. Rural. Diverse. Socially unacceptable to be atheist.

I really wish I could be Irish on voting day, just so I could put my vote in. I hope that law is changed.

ARe you joking? I take it from your username that you're Irish. I am although left a long time ago

No I'm not joking. Yes, I can tell you left a long time ago, you like others have a very old fashioned view of the country. We're no longer a religious country at all, its all just culture and tradition at this point, hardly anyone gives a flying shite what a priest has to say about anything and most wouldn't know their local one if he bit them on the arse.
Socially unacceptable to be atheist? We're most of us atheists , even the ones who do the holy communion, because thats "just what you do". Nobody actually means it.

We're not what we were. Stop characterising a place you don't know anymore.

antiAlias

The hold on Ireland that the church had has loosened so much over the last 20 years though, we've come amazingly far, if we were so backwards and awful as you describe, do you think that Gay marriage would have been voted through? And voted through convincingly as well i may add, only 1 constituency in the whole country voted no on that

It struggles to keep the church out of its day-to-day life and is well behind the times with regard to atheists being able to 'come out of the closet'.

It really does sound like it's been a long while since you were in Ireland tbh

In all seriousness though, it's why we can't have a postal vote system for ex-pats like many other countries have. So many Irish people who emigrated decades ago and who will never return have a desperate desire for the country to have remained in amber since they left.....It's even more dangerous because of our grandparent rule on citizenship, meaning that 10s of millions of people who have never set foot in the country and hold us up as some fucked up mythical land of saints and scholars (and religiously brainwashed drunks) would be eligible to vote on our constitution.

No, that’s not how it would work.

Implementing postal vote would not mean that every Seán and Bríd who hasn’t set foot in Ireland since emigrating in 1962 would have a vote. The number of Irish people living abroad who have the right to vote is actually quite tiny. You’re only eligible to vote in Irish elections/referendums if you’ve lived in Ireland within the last 18 months. So it’s ridiculous to me that those people who do qualify but now no longer live in Ireland have to traipse all the way home from Australia/America/London/Wherever if they wish to play their part. Those people should have the right to a postal vote.

Socially unacceptable to be atheist.

I agree that in Ireland the church and state are still far too entwined but I really disagree that it's socially unacceptable to be an atheist!

I agree that in Ireland the church and state are still far too entwined but I really disagree that it's socially unacceptable to be an atheist!

Absolutely

The eighth amendment does just affect wether you can have a termination or not. It affects your access to medical treatment of you are pregnant. Women are refused treatment because it may harm the child they are carrying, even if the risk is small or minimal.

"We're most of us atheists , even the ones who do the holy communion"

Yes. You're right.

'LOL' is so often untrue, but I really did when reading that.

"We're no longer a religious country at all"

Bullshit! What percentage of children in Ireland do you think take First Communion as a group with beaming relatives giving them fivers? What percentage in England even know what that means? How about the divide in education? How many non-Catholics go to St Mary's or Lumen Christi? How many Catholics go to Foyle College?

78% identify as Catholic. More than 40% of Irish people go to church once a week. More than 60% go at least once a month.

Why the pretence that Ireland isn't a religious country?

Excommunication after an abortion has been suspended by the pope for a year. Apparently the best he can manage.

I spend about 3 months a year in Ireland (I'm a Derry girl and DH is from Cork) and all my family and in-laws still live there. I still have a good understanding of my country and its politics. Perhaps better than most having grown up in Derry in the 60s and 70s.

Who the fuck do you think you are to tell me I don't know my own country any more?

Who the fuck do you think you are to tell me I don't know my own country any more?

Well to be fair anyone who says it's socially unacceptable to be an atheist would strike me as being a bit out of touch with the country as it is in 2018.

Northern Ireland seems alot more religious to the republic these days tbf antiAlias

You seem really angry about the whole thing. Why are you call us all liars who actually still live here and why do you suppose such a backwards religious country would vote so convincingly against the Churches wishes for gay marriage?

Bullshit! What percentage of children in Ireland do you think take First Communion as a group with beaming relatives giving them fivers

That has nothing to do with believeing in the bloody bible! People do it for the day out, for the fivers, because its a tradition, not because they truly love god and want their child to do so as well

78% identify as Catholic

CULTURALLY catholic. There is a huge difference between religiously catholic and culturally catholic, people need to realise that.

More than 40% of Irish people go to church once a week

They do in their hole. Look at any church on a Sunday, a handful of auld wans and fuck all else.

Who the fuck do you think you are to tell me I don't know my own country any more?

You're the one who paints an outdated picture, you haven't lived there in a long time as you said. And lets face it, Derry is hardly representative of the whole of Ireland anyway, you know that if you're so clued up.

Oh also, Pubs open on Good Friday these days too, we're all going to hell

*More than 40% of Irish people go to church once a week

They do in their hole. Look at any church on a Sunday, a handful of auld wans and fuck all else*

I actually LOL'd at that ; ) It's funny cos its true

NI is certainly a special case (esp. NI of the 60s and 70s) and I’d politely wonder at someone who grew up in NI thinking they’re an authority on life in the Republic.

Who the fuck do you think you are to tell me I don't know my own country any more?

Not being funny, but if you grew up in Derry in the 60's and 70's (in the UK), what the fuck do you think you know about Ireland in the 21st century?

squoosh

We'll agree to disagree.

Trinity66

"Northern Ireland seems a lot more religious to the republic these days tbf"

Yes. I've noticed that. As I said, DH is from Cork. I still think (and stats agree) that Ireland as a whole is much more religious than most developed countries.

"You seem really angry about the whole thing. "

Yes. And you should be too. Religion makes me incredibly angry.

I haven't called you backwards or a liar but as a society, Ireland is too entwined in religion and it is backwards.

"why do you suppose such a backwards religious country would vote so convincingly against the Churches wishes for gay marriage?"

Misogyny.

I think Greer was wrong when she said that men hate women. The church though, they fucking despise us.

Why would anyone talk about the Bible in relation to Ireland? Where does she think it is, NI or the Southern States of the US?

The bible might have traction in the North, but not in Ireland itself.

AFAICS the Vote No campaign is very heavily financed from abroad - ad campaigns, posters all over the place, banging on doors and telling people that the old are next in the firing line.