There was shock across Ireland last night as it was announced that the ruling Green Party had chosen Claire Byrne as its candidate in Dublin Bay South’s Bye Election.
Byrne was one of two Irish Green Party members who were pictured alongside the notorious Peter Tatchell in 2018.
When it emerged that Tatchell had been photographed with Roderic O’Gorman, thousands took to the streets to oppose his instillation as Minister for Children at an event called ‘March for Innocence’. The event was briefly counter protested.
O’Gorman ultimately held on to his position, but questions regarding Tatchell’s influence on the ruling Green Party have remained, with particular concern over Tatchell’s patronage of an English educational group called ‘Educate and Celebrate’, who told Irish teachers last year ‘don’t tell parents you’re about to embark on this’ in relation to sex education.
She also said that ‘we need to eradicate all of heteronormativity in our schools’.
In 2019, Tatchell wrote an introduction for a book about Allen Ginsberg, the infamous open paedophile who founded the North American Manboy Love Association.
Back in 2010, Leo Varadkar warned the Dail about the influence of Peter Tatchell.
As the furore grew last year, Today FM’s Matt Cooper came under fire for appearing to give a soft interview to Tatchell.
What views were so controversial? As recently as the 1990s, Tatchell was calling for the age of consent to be dramatically reduced…to FOURTEEN.
Tatchell also incredible said of the killers of toddler Jamie Bulger, ‘If they'd had sex with each other and said they'd consented, our courts would've ruled they were too young’.
Tatchell also told Niall Boylan that 'children are not property of their parents’.
Tatchell also wrote an obituary for Ian Dunn, the founder of PiE, the Paedophile Information Exchange.
It is not yet clear if Ms. Byrne will be asked to stand down now that this photograph with Tatchell has emerged, but many expect that she will at the very least issue an apology and will distance herself from his views.
