'Times' accused of pro-Labour agenda

SEANAD REPORT: THE IRISH Timeswas hoping to bring about a government led by the Labour Party, but it would not achieve that, Terry Leyden (FF) said. Calling for a debate on opinion polls, he said the latest Ipsos/MRBI poll had inflated support for Labour against Fianna Fáil and had undermined the position of Enda Kenny.

It would be very useful to discuss how opinion polls could be used to manipulate the outcome of a general election, said Mr Leyden. The most recent poll in The Irish Timeswas "flawed and flukey. They now admit that they are going to review the situation."

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The Catholic bishops had displayed an extraordinary arrogance in intervening in the debate on the Civil Partnership Bill and by describing it as unconstitutional, Ivana Bacik (Lab) said.

After all of the scandals that had rocked the church, they no longer had the voice of moral authority. “It is most unfortunate, in what should be a secular republic, we are still seeing them intervening on matters of this nature.”

Joe O’Toole (Ind) observed that the Catholic Church had finally been flushed out on the Bill. The Minister for Justice was to be congratulated for saying that he was holding to his position on it. The Green Party was doing likewise.

David Norris (Ind) said the bishops were entitled to express their view but to attempt once again nakedly to intervene in the political process was, in his opinion, completely deplorable. He had written to Cardinal Seán Brady offering to engage in a debate with him on the issue.

Rónán Mullen (Ind) said he had listened with a sense of wry amusement to comments about the bishops’ statement. “We need a more mature politics where people in different areas of civil society are entitled to have their say,” he said.

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Eoghan Harris (Ind) complained that Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin was being very casual in his approach to this country’s relationship with Israel, which was another democratic state. It would be very wrong for Hamas and its Islamist allies to think that Ireland was a soft mark for their activities here.