The Government of Ireland, discredited by its mismanagement, now wants to establish “Anti-prayer” zones geared to dismiss Pro-life bystanders.
Newsroom (28/07/2022 14:58, Gaudium Press) Yes, it’s not fake news: the Irish political establishment, led by its government, panicked by the pro-life surge caused by the fallout from Roe v. Wade, is now seeking to establish “anti-prayer” zones across the country – spaces where the possibility of any kind of prayer is excluded. If anyone in these areas dares to pray against abortion or encourage women to give birth to their baby rather than kill it, they could end up in jail.
In this, the Irish establishment does not have the dubious honour of being a pioneer, but it follows in the footsteps of the Spanish government, which this year got a law passed that penalizes with imprisonment anyone who offers pro-life information near abortion centres, and prays.
Attempts to establish this kind of legislation in Ireland have not been few. In 2020, the current education minister, Simon Harris, said that women who go to hospitals for miscarriages were being asked, “Are you going to murder your child?” Ultimately, these allegations fell silent when it was discovered that it was all related to a fake Twitter account.
But the issue of religious use of public space is transcending the abortion issue. The Sinn Fein and Labour parties claimed that a Men’s Rosary in Limerick had been designed to disrupt a pro-abortion rally. That claim also fell by the wayside when media outlets such as the Catholic Arena showed that this was not the case and that those affected were Catholics.
Some, like the editorialist of Catholic Arena, assure that the new step government now wants to implement aims to divert public attention to Catholics, as a distraction from its management failures on several fronts, including the economic one. “Panis et Circenses” the Romans used to say. In other words, bread and games that metonymic phrase referring to superficial appeasement to certain blatant realities.
With files from Catholic Arena.
Compiled by Florence MacDonald
