The 12th annual Peace Conference hosted by the Ahmadiyya Muslim community will take place tomorrow at the Menlo Park Hotel.

Galway West Fianna Fáil T.D Éamon Ó Cuív will address the conference.

Last year, Éamon Ó Cúiv was joined by Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh at the event.

The 11th annual conference took place a week after the Westminster Terror attack in March 2017. A moment of silence was observed after Imam Ibrahim Noonan condemned the attacks in the strongest possible way.

The Ahmadiyya community has a Mosque in Galway, Masjid Maryam – named in honour of Mary, mother of Jesus.

Fine Gael’s four MEPs published a policy document yesterday entitled Defending our common European home, which calls for Ireland to support the emerging European Defence Union.

The document, signed by all four Fine Gael MEPs, says that the party doesn’t want a more militarised Europe, but that they believe that PESCO and the emerging European Defence Union allows for the opportunity to spend better on military.

While it states clearly that they do not support the creation of a European Army, some Irish MEPs have criticised the tone of the document – Matt Carthy MEP said that it “exposes their extremist and dangerous far-right position on European security.”

Defending our common European home gives the following ten recommendations for the future of European security.

1. Support the development of a European Defence Union

The first recommendation states that if the current debate on a European Defence Union leads to some form of mutual defence pact within the EU, we should consider joining it. If this comes about, a Referendum will be held before Ireland joins.

2. Redefine the concept of Irish neutrality

This relates to the word ‘neutral’ and suggests a more accurate description of ‘Independent Non-nuclear Defence’.

In other words, a position on security and defence that is open to active engagement in international security operations but non-militarily aligned.

Fellow Member States, Sweden and Finland, also non-aligned countries, are now seeking more defence integration among Nordic countries and are supportive of the EU’s security and defence agenda.

3. Amend Ireland’s Triple Lock system

This refers to the need for a UN authorisation, a Government decision and Dáil vote before the deploying of Irish troops abroad on peacekeeping missions.

Fine Gael believes that there should be greater flexibility in how the Irish Defence Forces may be deployed
internationally in times of crisis or natural disaster.

They want to see a ‘Triple Lock’ with a fail-safe option which could be used in exceptional circumstances when UN approval is blocked – or change this to “UN authorisation or EU council decision”.

4. A continued strong commitment to peace keeping and crisis management operations

They say that all Member States face similar security threats so they should work together to protect each other.

5. Increase defence spending, particularly on defence capabilities, research, innovation and
personnel

Irish defence spending is the lowest in the EU at 0.3% of GDP.

Fine Gael say it is time to discuss whether we think security and defence matters should be given higher priority and longer-term planning and to consider how those plans might be advanced through EU membership.

6. Set up a central intelligence unit which would interact with a future European intelligence unit

This refers to our’ failure to embrace intelligence gathering and sharing’ which Fine Gael believe is weakening our intelligence capability, as there is no clear line for our EU partners and external agencies to interact with one central agency or point of contact.

They want to see the creation of a security and intelligence unit which could advise and report to government on and interact actively with other European stakeholders and partners.

7. Establish a cohesive National Cyber Security Strategy

Fine Gael believes as a priority that one of the first joint approaches in the area of cyber security needs to occur at an EU level.

In the area of joint planning and joint research between Member States, cyber security provides an appropriate area for much more EU cooperation and funding.

8. Establish a National Security Council

“A National Security Council (NSC) should be established with a statutory responsibility to report and reassess, on a bi-annual basis, the threat analysis, while identifying the gaps in our ability to respond and specifying the funding and resources required to address this.”

9. Develop Ireland’s defence industry

The EU is investigating innovative funding mechanisms to support security and defence research in the face of declining national defence budgets so as to deliver capability and support industry.

From 2020, it is anticipated that up to €5 billion of EU funds could be devoted to defence spending annually, through a new European Defence Fund.

This recommendation again refers to Sweden, and also Switzerland and Austria, which are all neutral and have substantial defence industries.

10. Assess the implications of Brexit and plan for Ireland’s post-Brexit security and defence policy

And of course, Brexit. They believe that our existing structures and bilateral arrangements with the UK must remain strong, planning for a post-Brexit security and defence architecture that continues the close cooperation between Ireland and the UK.

This, they say, should include an assessment of the implications of Brexit on the security situation in the North of Ireland.

Conclusion and criticism

As a ‘discussion document’, the ten recommendations outline Fine Gael’s views on the future of European defence. But it says that it is a debate for all political parties in Ireland and especially the parties that believe in the European Union and our solidarity to each other.

But Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy harshly critised the document, saying: “What is crystal clear form today’s publication is that the Fine Gael MEPs are seeking to tear up Ireland’s long-standing and proud position on military neutrality.

“They have also openly embraced a dangerous far-right position on security with the proposals at the core of this paper. They are now clearly extremist on this issue.”

Kieran Creaven has been sentenced to eighteen months in prison for attempting to groom an under-age girl online.

Creaven was confronted in Leeds by ‘Predator Exposure’ in November and reported to the Police. He pleaded guilty in December to the charges.

The Ballinasloe native will also be made the subject of a Sexual Offences Notification Requirement and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

More to follow..

The Sinn Féin leadership has today sent out a strong message that the Eighth Amendment should be repealed, arguing that it should never have been placed in the Constitution.

The party’s President Mary Lou McDonald set out her strong views in the Dáil in the debate on the Referendum Bill, saying the ‘Eighth Amendment is a relic of an Ireland of the past’ and that ‘it has to go’.

Gerry Adams commended the government on the proposed wording of the referendum, adding that the issue of women’s health ‘should never be a matter for a constitution’.

Mary Lou McDonald said: “The 8th Amendment should never have been placed in our Constitution. Bitter experience over decades demonstrates this.”

She continued by highlighting the reality of the impact of the Eighth Amendment on the health and lives of women.

“It is essential to recall real cost to women and girls of the Eighth amendment. In the 1992 X-Case, a suicidal girl of 14, the child victim of a rape, was prevented by the High Court from travelling abroad to obtain an abortion.

“It has caused countless women and families with the trauma of a diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality to be forced to make a harrowing journey abroad.

“It has created an alphabet roll call of women’s suffering, women who in many cases sought relief in international courts and tribunals to recognise their suffering and the cruelty of our state.

“It cost the life of Savita Halappanavar in 2012 while miscarrying was denied an abortion that could have saved her life. She died after doctors refused to carry out the necessary procedure due to the legal ambiguity and uncertainty created by the 8th Amendment.

“In 2015, a pregnant mother was kept on life-support for 24 days after she was declared medically brain-dead because a foetal heartbeat was detected in her womb. When her family asked that life support be removed, their request was denied because of the 8th Amendment, despite the fact that the baby had no chance of survival. It took a legal appeal by her family to High Court for her life support to be switched off.

“Even in death, the Eighth Amendment can rob a woman of her dignity. Some will say that these are the hard cases, the exceptions, the outliers, that hard cases make bad law. I say that these are the hardest, most cruel face of the 8th Amendment.

“Our bad law made these cases. I say that these women are, in the first instance, the reason to repeal the 8th Amendment. We as a society must demand and ensure that there are no more hard cases, no more Savita’s and no more traumatised women known to us in the public domain as letters of the alphabet.

“That is our first duty, to assert clearly that that the state will not force a rape victim to carry a pregnancy to term.

“To demand that women and families faced with the devastating diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality are no longer denied care, comfort and choice here in their home country.

“To assert that doctors must be free to do their job, must be able to take medical decisions in the interests of women without the threat of a criminal sanction hanging over them.

“To ensure that health care choices, life and death decisions, are not skewed or delayed while medics seek advice from constitutional lawyers.”

The President of Sinn Féin concluded:“The 8th Amendment is a relic of an Ireland of the past. Yet, it restricts the rights of women in the here and now and affects our future in such a profound way. It has to go.

“It is time to trust women. It is time to allow doctors to do their jobs. And we, as legislators, must now do ours.”

Gerry Adams TD also spoke in the Dáil today in the debate on the Referendum Bill.

He pointed out, that in his own constituency of Louth and East Meath, 83 women travelled to Britain for an abortion in 2016. This suggests that in the last 40 years at least 3300 women travelled for abortions during that time from Louth.

Gerry Adams said: “Ní bheidh aon saoirse anno gan saoirse na mban. So, it’s time to trust women on this issue and the decision about their health must be theirs and their doctors, and it’s time to trust ourselves.

“The referendum to repeal the 8th amendment is fundamentally about trust.

“First and foremost, it is about the willingness of our society to trust women to make health decisions for themselves.

“It is also about trusting our medical professionals faced with difficult situations and decisions.

“And it’s about trusting the electorate to come to a decision that removes from the constitution an amendment which should never have been placed there in the first instance.

“The issue of women’s health should never be a matter for a constitution.

“It should be legislated for in the normal way through the Oireachtas. I want to welcome the publication today of the government’s Policy Paper. Sinn Féin will study it closely. I want to commend the government on the proposed wording for the referendum.

“It places responsibility for legislating and providing for women’s health where it belongs – with the Oireachtas and the government. The 8th amendment prohibits access to basic medical treatment that should be available to women in any developed society.

“It is unjust and we as legislators have a responsibility to end that injustice. The business of the State should be to ensure women have access to proper health care services if they need them and if they choose to avail of them.

“The State has a responsibility to support women.

“None of us should try to fool ourselves. Abortion is a reality in this state. Every day here and in neighbouring states Irish women are having abortions. Ten will leave today and every day for that reason.

“In my own constituency of Louth and East Meath the official figures tell us that at least 83 women travelled to Britain for an abortion in 2016. In this city of Dublin 1,175 women travelled that year, and across this state at least 3,265 women travelled to Britain for an abortion in 2016.

“It is estimated that in the last forty years at least one hundred and seventy thousand Irish women travelled to other states for abortions. That means as many as 3300 women travelled for abortions during that time from Louth. Thousands more are now using abortion pills that can be accessed over the internet. They do so without medical supervision.

“The Minister for Health speaking in the Dáil in January revealed a 62% increase in the number of women from this state contacting one online provider over a five-year period.

“The number seeking pills increased from 548 women in 2010 to 1,438 in 2015.

“So do we want this to continue or do we want a mature society, tolerant and compassionate, open and inclusive and based on equality?

“Or are the attitudes from the time of the industrial schools, the Magdalene laundries, and the Mother and Baby Homes, are those attitudes to prevail when women were treated as chattels, with no rights or protections.

“If we vote no we will be dismissing and condemning women.  The victims of rape, of incest, women with fatal foetal abnormalities are not anonymous people.

“They are not statistics. These are our family members, our friends and neighbours, our workmates. They need to be treated with love and compassion.

“Winning this referendum will take hard work and leadership.

“I would also appeal for a reasoned, respectful, and sympathetic debate. We must not – we cannot let women down again.

“The Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald speaking on this issue in January described the eighth amendment as a ‘constitutional coup and the reactionary codification of the suppression of women’. She is right. That suppression has to end.

“Ní h-aon áit í cúis sláinte na mban sa Bhunreacht. Is ceist príobháidreacht atá ann idir bean agus a ndochtúir. Is é ar bhfreagarthacht, ar ndualgas feachtas athchomhairce an ochtú a leasú agus mar reachtóirí reachtaíocht a chruthú má tá cathróirí in aghaigh an t-Acht a leasú.    It’s time for women to make their own decisions and for us to support them to do this. Bí fioir cinnte faoi seo. Ní bheidh aon saoirse ann gan saoirse na mban.

“So it’s time to trust women on this issue and the decision about their health must be theirs and their doctors, and it’s time to trust ourselves.”

A team of researchers led by Galway-based Professor Gary Donohoe has received €1.5 million in funding from the Health Research Board for a program focused on understanding and responding to the mental health needs of young people under the age of 25.

Mental health difficulties (including depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia) account for approximately half of all causes of disability in individuals under the age of 25 in Ireland and around the world.

Commenting on the funding award, Professor Gary Donohoe of NUI Galway said: “Despite the fact that difficulties with mental health usually begin between the ages of 15 and 25, and early treatment reduces later risk, people aged 12-25 years have the poorest access to treatment of all age groups.

“With this funding, the YOULEAD consortium will address some of the main reasons for this, including an insufficient understanding of youth mental health, difficulties with early recognition of symptoms, a lack of strategic organisation and delivery of health services, and high levels of stigma.

“The YOULEAD programme will address these issues by establishing an interdisciplinary cross-university PhD training program to equip researchers to better understand youth mental health difficulties and barriers to treatment, and to build an evidence base for treatment.”

The consortium will seek to form a new national youth mental health research network, representing key stakeholders in youth mental health, including individuals and families with lived experience of mental health difficulties, national health services, and national/governmental policy makers.