By Tom Hegarty

Despite the family of murder victim, Ashling Murphy asking to be left alone to mourn their tragic loss, pro abortion, far left group Reproductive Rights, against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity (ROSA) held a “vigil” using a megaphone in Limerick this weekend and turned their protest into a hate filled attack on Catholics praying the Men’s Rosary.

The Irish Men's (!) Rosary set up on Bedford Row today instead of their usual spot on Thomas St as an extraordinary attempt to disrupt a Stand Out in solidarity with #AshlingMurphy and against gender violence today. pic.twitter.com/kobKzEIPzd
— ROSA Limerick (@RosaLimerick) January 15, 2022

A Labour Party councillor also tweeted in support of the ROSA protest and complained that The Men’s Rosary chanted “loudly Catholic Prayers”.

1/ Today I attended a protest on Bedford Row in Limerick against male violence against women. A group of men called the “mens rosary” stood alongside us chanting loudly Catholic prayers.
— Cllr Conor Sheehan (@ConorSheehan93) January 15, 2022

Given the low turnout at the ROSA protest, maybe the organisers thought by turning a vigil about a murdered woman into a Catholic hate protest would garner more anti-Catholic Twitter reactions. They were right. Almost 6000 people have viewed their protest video.

In contrast to ROSA’s protest, all around Ireland, ordinary decent Irish people held peaceful and respectful vigils to show solidarity with the family of Ashling Murphy who was violently killed by a yet unknown assailant.

One peaceful and respectful protest was held on Thursday night in County Waterford. Young Traditional music women who knew Ashling from the traditional Irish music scene, held an impromptu candle lit vigil using traditional music to fill the silence. Hundreds of concerned people turned up and politicians, whilst visible, kept their distance from the vigil.

(Above; Peaceful and respectful Vigil held in Co. Waterford)

There have been many words spoken by politicians, the media and women’s groups about the murder of Ashling Murphy. All of these words are worthless and empty to Ashling’s grieving family and friends. They would be better saying nothing rather looking for political gain.
There will always be evil people, willing to murder. Despite what politicians and the media say, it’s not in our Irish “culture” to murder and attack women. As a friend wrote;

Instead of this type of spin, we should focus on the enormous loss this murder has resulted in. The loss of a beautiful young life. The loss of a sister, daughter, friend.

Shame on ROSA and their Twitter allies, shame on the Labour Party, shame on those who participate by sharing their malice of Catholics by using Ashling’s violent death to attack Catholic men saying a public Rosary, in a place they have been using for years.

May Ashling rest in peace and her family, friends and colleagues find strength and courage in the coming days, months and years.

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WE ENCOURAGE ALL CONCERNED CATHOLICS TO CONTACT THE ETHICS REGISTRAR IN ORDER TO ADDRESS THE BEHAVIOUR OF POLITICIANS AFTER THIS EVENT.

BELOW IS A SAMPLE EMAIL THAT YOU CAN USE IF YOU WISH.

Email Address for complaint; customerservices@limerick.ie
Email Subject; FAO Ethics Registrar; Complaint about Councillor Conor Sheehan
EMAIL BODY; (Please add your contact info to the email template below)
Dear Ethics Registrar, Limerick City and County Council,
I wish to make a formal complaint under Section 9.4 of the Code of Conduct for Councillors contained within the Ethical Framework for the Local Government Service.
My complaint involves Labour County Councillor, Conor Sheehan.
Section 9.4 outlines examples of unacceptable use/misuse of social media by councillors if posts;
·     Use profane or derogatory language or content
·     Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, disability, age, race, religious belief or membership of the Traveller Community;
·     Illegal activity or encouragement of same;
On 15th January 2022, Labour Councillor Conor Sheehan posted a series of comments on his twitter account. Please see relevant details of the tweets and links below. It is my opinion that Councillor Sheehan’s tweets breach the Code of Conduct of Councillors.
As a Catholic, I personally find this series of tweets and subsequent comments that his tweets invoked, grossly offensive, unbecoming of a political representative, in breech of the Code of Conduct and factually incorrect.
I ask the Ethics Registrar to investigate this incident and report back as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
YOUR NAME
YOUR ADDRESS
YOUR CONTACT NUMBER
References:
Twitter Link twitter.com/ConorSheehan93/status/1482414083756462085?cxt=HHwWisC4hanwy5IpAAAA
Archived copy available here:
https://archive.is/wbUAC

TWITTER ACCOUNT;
Cllr Conor Sheehan @ConorSheehan93 6.07pm 15th January 2022
1/ Today I attended a protest on Bedford Row in Limerick against male violence against women. A group of men called the “mens rosary” stood alongside us chanting loudly Catholic prayers.
157 Retweets / 45 Quote Tweets / 1,047 Likes
2/ One of the organisers went over and politely explained what the demo was about and if they would mind taking their rosary across the street. In response to that they turned their sound system up louder to try and drown us out.
3/ There must have been at least 15 men chanting Catholic prayers very loudly and while they may call themselves Catholic, their behaviour was one of the most unchristian things I have ever witnessed.
4/This Irish Mens Rosary are normally on Thomas St but they moved to Bedford Row specifically to disrupt this demo against gender violence. They tried to drown out each woman who stood up to speak. No compassion or humanity just misogyny. Disgusting!