An Irish woman’s social, political and domestic commentary
Great story here by the magnificent Sunday Times.
The new director of traffic DRIVES to work everyday even though he lives in Dun Laoighre where the DART could easily bring him in. And of course he gets a FREE car parking space, yet announces he is putting up parking charges in the city to put off commuters. Unbelievable.
I’m not pregnant. Thank God. I was worried for a couple of weeks, though. I felt dizzy one day and my mother immediately leapt to conclusions. Then the PMT set in, but every PMT symptom can be interpreted as a pregnancy symptom and I was getting paranoid.
Phew! We’re just emerging from the two-babies-in-two-years fog and I am not sure I could have stood up, physically or mentally, to another one. My husband says he’d have left the country. Thankfully he can remain here and ferry up my tea and toast in the morning.
It was a close call, though, and enough to get me exercised when I read the patronising comments of Martin Daly, chairman of the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP Committee, last week. Dr Daly believes that the morning-after pill should not be distributed by pharmacies; prescribing it should remain the preserve of GPs.
Well, I bet Dr Daly never woke up on a Saturday morning wondering if he was pregnant and realising that he couldn’t get his hands on the solution to his problem until Monday morning, when it might be too late. Funny how those who never have to face a problem can confidently assure the rest of us that there isn’t one.
I’d had a close call on a Friday night and when I woke up I had a choice. Do I spend three weeks panicking or take a morning-after pill and eliminate the anxiety? Actually, I didn’t have a choice because my GP doesn’t open on a Saturday. He only opens on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 10am and 12.
It’s bad enough when you get into the surgery; it’s so humiliating. You have to give the “details” of the “incident”. You may have to explain to the receptionist why you must see the doctor that day and no other. So much for confidentiality.
Then the doctor gets to shake his patrician head at your silliness and gives you a contraception lecture. Possibly justifiable when I was 18 and drunk. Now I’m 35 and just tired. Give me the stupid pill and spare me the lecture. Oh, and here’s your €50 even though you haven’t had to do anything since I told you what was wrong with me and what I need.
There’s the rub. It’s a nice little earner: a steady queue of healthy women coming into your office requiring nothing other than your signature and your disapproval for which you get handsomely paid. Hardly surprising that Dr Daly doesn’t want to let go of that revenue stream. Naturally he’ll deny that finance is the source of his concern. It’s not just the money — it’s the control.
“We believe that the vast majority of women who seek it are in their late teens and early 20s and the opportunity should be taken to explain that emergency contraception is just that,” Daly said last week. “It’s a last resort.” He wants to talk to the women about “the implications of being sexually active and how to protect against sexually transmitted diseases”.
Quite frankly he’s wrong — on all counts. Firstly, regardless of age, if a woman is responsible enough to look for the pill in the first place then I think it’s fair to assume that she is quite well aware of the “implications” of being sexually active. Secondly, there was a lot of fuss about a survey on Irish people’s sexual habits a fortnight ago. Most media headlined the highly predictable fact that young people are having lots of sex with lots of different people. Dr Daly might have found the section on contraception interesting: some 90% of the allegedly slutty teenagers he wants to talk to about “the implications of sexual activity” are using contraception.
Guess who is using the least? Married women aged 35-44. These are women sick of being dosed with artificial hormones and who believe that their fertility is low enough not to warrant using contraception. Perhaps they believe they have low fertility because they read headlines screeching about women who postpone child-bearing until their thirties when their fertility has dropped to disastrous levels.
The bottom line is that doctors won’t give up the morning-after pill because they want to give the safe-sex lecture. Well thanks, but I’ve had enough of the lectures. I am responsible for my own fertility and I’d like to be able to buy the pill in a chemist without the moralizing.
I see that the Irish Family Planning Association opened an emergency contraception clinic in Tallaght on Sunday. Guess who’s going to it? People from Carlow and Kildare. It makes no sense for people to travel these distances to get a pill they could just as easily get in their local chemist.
Levonelle, the brand name of the pill, has only been available in this country since June 2003. Prior to that the “morning-after pill” that doctors were lowering themselves to hand out was just a double dose of the normal pill, though they didn’t like you to know that.
“In the UK, the NHS has gone down the route of making it available over the counter for the past five years and it has made no difference,” Daly said. Difference to what? Pregnancy rates? Well, obviously, those who don’t think they need the pill are still going to get pregnant. For those who know they need it, why make it as difficult and expensive as possible to get? €50-€80 is a lot of money. Cheaper than being pregnant and cheaper than a flight to London for an abortion. But enough to put someone off, especially when they aren’t certain if the risk warrants the inconvenience, the mortification and the investment.
Daly again: “If there was a clear-cut advantage to making it available over the counter, I would consider it but so far there has been none.” Well, there is no clear-cut advantage to him obviously, but there would be to panic-stricken women.
Why not just dispense it in a pharmacy? Their opening hours are better and it would be cheaper. There could always be some deal whereby they tell your GP that you came in for it, and an obligation on them to give you a leaflet on non-emergency contraception.
Most disappointingly Mary Harney, the health minister, hasn’t the slightest intention of putting pressure on doctors to let go this control over women. “Clearly, it can only be done if it’s medically safe to do so and until we get the advice of the regulatory body that has responsibility in this area, I wouldn’t be in a position to make a decision,” she has said.
But it is medically safe. Safe as houses. It’s so safe that breast-feeding women can take it, and they aren’t allowed take an anti-histamine. This has nothing to do with safety. It’s just old-fashioned protectionism by the establishment to defend their income and their status.
Ok, so here is something I am going to try.
We have Sky. It’s desperate. Well, not entirely, we get Paramount which shows Seinfeld all the time. But no Channel 4 no ITV( so no Prime Suspect!!) no BBC 4 AND no Ceebeebies which means no childrens telly without ads!!!
So a friend who knows about these things said, after 1 year you own your Sky digibox. Go on eBay and buy a “freeview” card from England which will you can put in your Digibox and which will give you all those channels for FREE!!! And you save the €30 each month you pay Sky. He has one and the only slightly weird thing is that you get some off BBC regional channels depending on what part of the country you bought the card.
So I just bought one for €40 + €5 P&P. We’ll see.
It’s like soooooooooo ironic. That Scissor Sisters song “don’t feel like dancin” MAKES you feel like dancin. Current fave song.
This must be causing havoc….
“Dublin’s O’Connell Street has been closed after a suspicious package was found on a bus.
The package was noticed by the driver of an airport shuttle bus and reported to the Garda Station on Upper O’Connell Street.
A Garda spokeswoman said army bomb disposal experts had been called to examine the package.
Witnesses said there was significant army presence in the area.
Traffic in both directions has been stopped and on some side streets. Pedestrians have been stopped from the GPO as far as Parnell Square.”
You know, everyone knows I want Fine Gael to do well cos I hate FF so much but honestly, sometimes they just ask for trouble.
From today’s Irish Times
“Splits have opened up in both Government and Opposition over the proposed ban on drift netting for salmon. Fine Gael has joined forces with dissident Fianna Fáil TDs in an effort to block the proposal, while Labour and the Greens have joined the PDs in supporting the ban.
The Independent Salmon Group, established by the Government, has warned that the Irish salmon stocks will be destroyed unless the ban is introduced on January 1st. Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey is now under strong internal pressure in Fianna Fáil not to implement the report.
At a meeting last night with about 20 members of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party Mr Dempsey was urged not to implement the ban but instead to introduce a voluntary scheme for a three-year period. They also argued for higher compensation than proposed. The Minister agreed to speak to the Taoiseach about the issue and bring the views of the meeting to the Cabinet.
Fine Gael threw its weight behind the Fianna Fáil backbenchers with the party’s Marine spokesman, John Perry, saying that his party was unconvinced that a compulsory ban would work. He argued that a voluntary compensation scheme should be introduced instead.
Mr Dempsey last night described Mr Perry’s statement as being typical of Fine Gael. “It is trying to be all things to all men while serving no one. It is another fine example of Fine Gael and Labour looking in different directions on policy issues. Both parties have very different views on this issue.”
Labour and the Greens yesterday endorsed the proposed ban. Labour Party marine and fisheries spokesman Tommy Broughan said he trusted that the Cabinet would now endorse the Independent Group’s findings in time for the 2007 salmon season.
“Scientific evidence has long supported the need for a ban to ensure the long-term survival of Irish salmon stocks. Yet, the Government repeatedly ignored this advice and even authorised quota increases,” he said.
Green Party marine spokesperson Eamon Ryan welcomed the report and called on the Government to implement its recommendations in full. “For many years we have argued that the use of drift nets at sea was threatening the survival of our precious wild salmon stocks. The fact that the commercial catch halved over the last five years shows the scale of the crisis we face.”
Stop Now, the group campaigning for an end to the drift-net fishing of salmon, said the report acknowledged the catastrophic decline in salmon stocks and the need for a complete ban. The Irish Hotels Federation also welcomed recommendations saying they would return salmon angling tourism to the level of visitors it attracted prior to 1999.”
Dempsey is right and FG are wrong. I hope he stands up to them.
Sometimes you wonder….
The Irish Independent reports today that Newstalk have “backed” down on the Claire Byrne thing. But she still has to work out her notice and can’t appear on Newstalk until she has. So even though she thought she was clever and tried to work for TV3 and Newstalk, she hasn’t been allowed. The only thing TV3 backed down on was their attempt to impose a non-competitive clause which wouldnt have seen her work at Newstalk until February. So technically it was a backing down but not on the substantive issue which was that she had to work out her notice and not work for anyone else in the meantime. Funny how these things are sold.
Marks and Spencer Bacon Leek and Mushroom Quiche.
USE BY date 21 October.
In our very cold fridge for past few days.
Can I eat? I know I shouldn’t, but can I?
I hate:
Slow Mergers
AND
that 60km speed limit.
I TRIED to go at 60km. NO ONE else was. I had a HUGE lorry UP MY ARSE (well arse of car obviously). THE PRESSURE. But Pat Kenny says they have speed traps so I stuck to it – which was really hard and had to endure the hostile derisory vibes from all the other cars speeding by me. Why should I get penalty points because everyone is else is forcing me to ignore the law like they are?
AND
The bus lane on the key is NOT a bus lane between 10am and noon. Therefore when ALL the other people are sitting in a tailback in the normal lane and I pass them out in the bus lane they have no right to think “look at the bitch flouting the law and going up the bus lane”. I am allowed to! They are STUPIDLY sitting in a traffic jam because they don’t read the times on the bus lane signs.
So I feel under pressure on the M50 cos they all break the law and on the quays cos they don’t KNOW the law.
Other people.uuuuuuuuuuuugh.
Bad Behavior has blocked 2301 access attempts in the last 7 days.