The war of words between Taoiseach Micheal Martin and the Catholic Bishops has escalated this evening after the increasingly unpopular leader rebuked them for criticising his failure to address their concerns.
Martin infamously campaigned for abortion in 2018 against the wishes of the members of his party and after years of claiming to be prolife. Although the party managed to get into government last year, it is unlikely to exist in any recognisable form even ten years into the future and is increasingly becoming a collection of politicians hoping to add Ministerial roles to their CVs and State Pensions while they can. Two of its most prominent pro abortion politicians, Fiona O’Loughlin and Lisa Chambers, were roundly rejected by voters last year before being handed lucrative Senator positions by Martin, in defiance of the will of the people.
Now Martin appears determined to finish off the little conservative base that the family has left, after launching a war of words with Ireland’s Catholic Bishops.
After the bishops released a statement today criticising the unscientific decision to close churches for public Mass, Martin sent his spokesperson to counter them with a snarky response, according to the Irish Times.
The Taoiseach is surprised at the bishops’ statement on the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.
He carried out a virtual meeting with the four Archbishops on February 19th in good faith, when he explained the impact of the new variant and the importance of suppressing the virus while the most vulnerable in society are vaccinated.
He also acknowledged the importance of the church community in people’s lives and agreed to maintain an open dialogue.
The Taoiseach explained at the meeting that, due to the serious nature of the pandemic, it was not possible to give guarantees on future levels of restrictions, however, the next steps would be clarified in the lead up to April 5th.
The Taoiseach’s argument is completely undermined by the erratic behaviour of his Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, who travelled to Iran this week, only weeks after an equally pointless trip to Turkey.
Tonight, Senator Craughwell joined in with the attack. In a tweet he wrote:
What are the Bishops thinking wanting the level 5 restrictions lifted for going to church. I'm sorry but the virus does not care whether you were in church or not
This is despite the fact that the Seanad is still running, with speakers not wearing masks and images emerging yesterday of a man sneezing and coughing beside a man wearing no mask.
Tomorrow we will be posting details of how to contact TDs and contacting them each day until Easter. The bishops have spoken out, as we wanted them to, and now it is our job to back them.
