Yesterday outside the Dáil, lots of TDs were eagerly posing for photos showing just how strongly they opposed the Covid-19 restrictions in regard to maternity hospitals.
This Labour tweet shows Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and Ivana Bacik in a cluster with their colleagues who were brandishing (bizarrely small) posters declaring: ‘There needs to be an end to all the restrictions on partners”.
The message was all in capitals lest you doubted their sincerity. There was a mention of comrades and another poster saying the women of Ireland deserved better – and a judicious use of an exclamation mark to emphasise how strongly they believed that we need to “end all maternity restrictions now!”
Gathering outside the Dáil the #MarchForMaternity is about to begin @lindabtweeting our comrade organising the demonstration that is pushing to end all maternity restrictions now! 🌹#bettermaternitycare pic.twitter.com/sWxQXrAf6K
— The Labour Party (@labour) October 6, 2021
Strong stuff. But then most of the merry band toddled into the Dáil and voted for the restrictions to continue.
It’s all on the record. There’s Deputy Bacik’s yes vote at the very top of the list. Scroll down and you’ll see the bould Aodhán likewise voting to ensure that the Health Amendment “shall continue in operation for the period beginning on the 10th day of October, 2021 and ending on the 9th day of January, 2022.”
That means the government can continue to have the power to lock us all up until January – with the same restrictions that are being used to keep husbands and partners away from women who are having babies in maternity hospitals or, even worse, from women who are being given the tragic news that their baby is very sick, dying, or has died.
In fairness, Labour weren’t the only ones playing the game of Tadhg a Dhá Thaobh. Here’s Patrick Costello of the Greens, husband to the former Lord Mayor.
“I joined herself…and many others to support calls for an end to maternity restrictions. Unlike families now I was lucky to be there every step of the way when it was our turn. We need to listen to women and start providing #BetterMaternityCare,” he tweeted.
As plenty of responses pointed out to him, he was protesting against his own government. The posturing is almost comical. Methinks the deputy doth protest too much. And then, he too sailed in to vote to keep the Covid restrictions.
I joined herself…and many others to support calls for an end to maternity restrictions. Unlike families now I was lucky to be there every step of the way when it was our turn. We need to listen to women and start providing #BetterMaternityCare pic.twitter.com/z3qVaDleBo
— Patrick Costello TD (@Costellop) October 6, 2021
The neck on these people is really quite incredible. Senator Sharon Keoghan rightly called them out for what she described as their hypocrisy.
“Yesterday while this [the protest] was going on outside the Dail, I was inside making my speech to the Minister for Health on how these outrageous health restrictions we have introduced must stop now and not in 3 months time,” she wrote.
Peadar Tóibín of Aontú this week released emails (shared anonymously) which were sent by women to Minister Stephen Donnelly asking for an end to the restrictions
One woman recounted her experience in an email to the Minister: “I had to sit in a room alone to be told that my baby had died. I was sent from this room alone reeling from what I had just heard to sit on a busy ward corridor sobbing alone. This is simply unacceptable. At no point was allowed to have my husband present to provide any sort of comfort.”
These testimonies should urge the government to take immediate action to lift these absurd restrictions. Instead, members of both government and opposition are seeing fit to indulge in self-serving hypocrisy.