Society

In Ireland, the 'right to choose' only applies where death is on the hori­zon. It is refused, denied, with­held even at the cost of women’s lives. By Máiréad Enright

Yesterday, (14 Novem­ber 2012) the Irish Times reported on the case of Savita Halap­panavar, who died last month at Uni­ver­sity Col­lege Gal­way, Ire­land. It was, we are told, a case of “sud­den mater­nal death”. The Irish Times sets out the facts of the case as follows:

Savita Halappanavar was a 31-year-old Indian dentist based in Galway, Ireland. She was married to Praveen Halappanavar who is a 34-year-old engineer. Savita was pregnant. On Sunday 21 October 2012, she presented to University Hospital Galway with back pains while in her 17th week of pregnancy.

Sadly, hospital staff told her she was miscarrying her pregnancy but there was still a foetal heartbeat present.

The death of Savita Halappanavar is an outrage which demands immediate action, according to a statement issued this morning by ULA TDs Clare Daly and Joan Collins.

If, as we are told, everything is on the budgetary table, why is there no place for an increase in the corporate tax rate? By Michael Taft.

Profits for non-financial firms operating in Ireland have risen from their low-point of just over €39bn in 2009 to €46.3bn in 2011, close to the peak in 2007. At the same time the level of investment has fallen by €9.4bn. These firms are producing profits but not forming any new capital. By Michael Burke.

Despite the Jobs Initiative, the Action Plan for Jobs, the ‘jobs-friendly’ budget last year, the EU is projecting that unemployment will still be 14.2% in 2014. By Michael Taft.

Austerity has been an economic failure and a social catastrophe.

This referendum campaign is part of the concerted denial of how we could hardly care less about very many of our children. By Vincent Browne.

The arresting black and white poster, with the photograph of a charming child, accompanied by the slogan “Every Child Matters”, is one of the falsehoods perpetrated by the Government parties urging support for the children’s rights referendum.

There is a strong argument that the Government should not introduce a house-property tax next year: the economy and hundreds of thousands of households simply cannot absorb it. By Michael Taft.