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I’M NOT AMORAL, not stupid, and not promiscuous. I took every precaution and even got emergency contraception, just in case. I still got pregnant.
Why should I be ashamed because I was unlucky? Is it because I then chose not to allow my life to be changed irrevocably by a stroke of bad luck?
Am I selfish for taking control of my own fate rather than simply letting life happen to me? I do not see it that way.
It could happen to you
It’s 2012, Ireland is in economic crisis and I’m preparing to emigrate 5,000 miles away from my friends and family. I have itchy feet to get out and join my friends who are already enjoying the sun-soaked fun of the Vancouver summer.
But I am stuck: sick to my stomach, physically and figuratively. I am pregnant. Mixed up with the nauseating anxiety is a huge sense of injustice.
Am I different from any of my friends? They all have sex. They have all used emergency contraception (yes, even the ones that go to mass). This happened to me, it can happen to you.
Sometimes, no matter how much we think modern medicine has mastered it, Mother Nature wins. I’m not reckless; I know how these things work.
A scared, unmarried pregnant girl
Now I have something to hide; this choice I have made about what happens to my body, my own life, is not only morally corrupt but it is criminal.
Suddenly I’m not the 21st century woman of the world I thought I was. I don’t live in a community where I have freedom, choice and equal rights. I’m a scared, unmarried, pregnant girl in the countryside of Catholic Ireland.
That’s not how we like to see ourselves these days but let me tell you, when you have a crisis pregnancy in a country that does not recognise your right to access to an abortion – it feels just as oppressive as the dark days of the Magdalene laundries.
I was brought up in a reasonably liberal household and I was strong enough to know my own mind about what I did and didn’t want. There was no one spewing hypocritical, archaic diatribe at me. I was 24 at the time and I had the means and wherewithal to do want I felt was right for me.
My own body
But what if I had been younger, less financially stable, less informed? What if my parent, mentor or close friends had had differing views from my own? I would have been trapped.
Giving someone safe access to abortion does not facilitate “immoral behaviour”. They have found themselves in crisis for whatever reason, and it makes the experience just slightly less horrendous.
On May 25 my country will vote on what I have the right to do with my own body and we will see who agrees with me.
The author of this piece has requested to remain anonymous.
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There’s pylons already running along near the M4. They’re not the most aesthetically pleasing but they’re necessary, just as motorways are necessary. How about running the pylons all the way along the motorway routes, and clamping wireless hotspots or 4G cells to each pylon and giving free coverage to anybody living within sight of the pylons?
The pylons could also be used as a trunk for fibre-optic cables to get broadband out to the rural areas.
A win-win for everybody!
Brian stop making so much sense, they’ll charge you for it.
Two of the Pylon routes in question run through Special Areas of Conservation: the Comeragh Mountains and Slievenamon. Much work has been undertaken by Waterford CoCo in the development of tourism in the area, such as the recently launched hiking routes in the Comeraghs & the Deise Greenway cycle path. South Tipp CoCo is also seeking to promote tourism in the Suir Valley, along the former Towpath on the River Suir between Carrick-on-Suir and Kilsheelan. Surely such initiatives would suffer were pylons to be constructed in either or both of the aforementioned areas?
Why did EirGrid not consider an underwater power route from (a) Knockraha to Great Island via the Cork/Waterford coast or (b) from Knockraha to Dublin as part of its study area? Given that the company wishes to construct a 600-kilometre underwater inter-connector from Great Island to France, it appears incongruous that the same consideration would not be given by an Irish company for one of its proposed Irish projects?
It has been stated on more than one occasion by both EirGrid and Minister Rabbitte that this power line is necessary for economic development. How then did the country prosper during the late 90s and into the mid-2000s when this route was not in place and full employment was achieved?
Belgium has buried 80 per cent of all its cables according to MEP Brian Crowley Why has an exclusively overhead option been forwarded by EirGrid given what is now being carried out in other EU Member States?
Yes we can do all that but bury the cables.
Brian, that’s a smart idea – to provide fast internet to those living near power lines – new or existing. Community gain is something lacking from current proposals.
There is an awful amount of waffle been talked about re this issue. Every new article brings in new waffle.
The facts are this :
UNECE Compliance Committee have ruled that Ireland is in breach of Aarhus Convention. Ireland’s renewable plan (NREAP) has bypassed all environmental protection procedures and there was no SEA done. The citizens have been denied their rights even though we signed the Lisbon Treaty to give us those rights.
This is the elephant in the room but the media do not want to cover it. Something is drastically wrong here.
Bang on Ray! NREAP broke the rules. GRID25 was born to support NREAP. GRID25 only considering overhead pylons. No cost benefit analysis for any of it.
I’d pay the 3%, that way everyone in Ireland pays the 3% and not just the people who have to live beside the pylon. Sounds fair I think
I already pay more than 3% extra because live in a rural area, I would pay nothing more for foreign wind energy companies to make even bigger profits, The underground option at least will provide more jobs in the construction at what Irish are great at digging holes.
Gotta love us Irish. We want the best of everything but we just don’t want it in our communitys.
What do you mean we want the best of everything, all we want is what we pay for and are entitled to, do you want a pylon beside your home, bury all cables taking people off the dole and when you are digging put in a gas pipe, broadband and anything else required
No talk about the environmental impact by the engineers in the video. All about economics or making a profit by business. The comments about Ireland’s reputation overseas is hogwash. We don’t need that rhetoric. This visual pollution overshadowing beautiful Ireland cannot be allowed to proceed!
As somebody who is studying this kind of stuff it has been proven that environmental benefits in today’s world cannot be executed successfully to its best potential with out economics. We need the changes and sacrifices have to be made. I do think they should alter the look of the pylons though. Take a look at Choi + Shine Architects’ work. They designed humanoid pylons that will be more aesthetically pleasing. If we want our country to benefit and be more sustainable in the future we need to make sacrifices. Its a two-way street.
This article is a reasonable and useful summary.
It lacks the elephant in the room. Its like discussing Hitler but only mentioning his favourite food and hobbys.
Eirgrids mathematical skills are to be questioned. Misinformation if not telling outright lies seems to be the order of the day with this crowd of over paid semi state company. There was a cost analysis last year and they priced it the same. Do your homework. Do not believe in the spin from Eirgrid.
Don’t worry we the consumer will be shafted by the powers that be as they will increase the cost of electricity by 3% ANYWAY even if we covered the whole country with pylons so please don’t use that argument. And in ten years they will have to upgrade again with bigger cables.No there is a vested interest in using pylons ie phone companies looking to put up communication equipment on these huge pylons. All this pylons/wind are for to export all that energy over to Europe and UK. We will not see a decrease in our prices.
And never mind the visual impact they have on the land. Go over to Wales Pembroke beautiful countryside and it’s covered in pylons!
How much did the tax payer pay for not using the motorways ? €22 million was given to the toll companies because they were guarantee by the government that any shortfall from their projections of cars passing through their toll we would pay! And an automatic price increase. This government is shafting us just like the last one. the Dail and spin doctors and consultions and other hangers on need clean up their politics and stop shafting the people over vested interest.
Yes upgrade the system but bury the cables. Enough is enough!
Very good article.
Shame it will never happen.
NIMBYism & parochial politics trumps national development 100% of the time.
Besides, the bungalow blitzers don’t want THEIR view spoiled (despite the countryside already being spoiled by the proliferation of 1-off houses).
@joey
I am not stopping National development but I want to stop visual pollution going through the countryside. They can do all the upgrade but bury them so we can still have progress but without the health and environmental issues. Belgium has 80% of its cables underground so why not in this country?
Tin hat comments and one off housing comments do not help in trying to understand the bigger issue here. Trying to put urban against the rural. Well done about that. There is a real fear about health concerns, information is out there if you want look. The gov / companies are in a rush to exporting all this energy to UK and Europe and how much money can be made. Money. That is the be all off the whole thing.
So the alternative to overhead cables is everyone has to pay extra for their electricity for effectively the remainder of their lives so that a relatively small number of people don’t have their homes devalued? Would it be feasible to introduce a system where if a homeowner tries to sell their home and cannot due to its proximity to a pylon that the government would purchase the property? It would prevent the construction being delayed by endless planning objections and court cases and probably work out much cheaper in the long term.
Well said. And true. No wonder you’re getting mostly red thumbs!
Don’t forget this so called upgrade is also about the large wind export project in the midlands.
Nothing about the Midlands mentioned in the article?
We talk about pylons but where are Eirgrid getting the billions they dont have two cent to rub together so it is all borrowed.
Power companies pay Eirgrid for the transmission.
Eirgrid, like any other company can borrow where it sees fit.
I hope to look back with pride in future years that we are the people who put a stop to Eirgrid’s destruction of our environment & heritage. It might be too late for Georgian Dublin & Woodquay but it’s not too late to stop these unnecessary pylons from permanently destroying our countryside. Make no mistake about it, this infrastructure isn’t being built for the benefit of the Irish people but for the benefit of a few well connected business people who hope to do well out of selling wind power into the UK backed by subsidies & support from their friends in the Govt.
You can be sure that the brief that Eirgrid’s engineers got was to find the cheapest way to erect this infrastructure & this is what they did. Well maybe it’s time they went back to the drawing board & looked for the best way to build it & I have have no doubt that they will find that going underground & off-shore is the best way. Saving money in the short run at the cost of destroying rural communities is not good business & will be resisted at every step by people who care about our country & see Ireland as not just an economy but a society.
I agree we need the infrastructure but the health concerns for me are the big thing here.
Around the time I was doing my junior cert there was a plan in the local area for high voltage pylons so I based my junior cert science project on it. The reports I read at that time and the statistics they presented showed a marked increase in illness rates for those living near pylons.
In 30 years of research, no substantive proof of negative health effects has been found.
Please…. Please show us verified, peer-reviewed proof, say from the WHO or British Medical Journal.
I’d rather go by science that your HC project.
As I said do your homework instead of being spoon fed my government and date bodies. There are studies about health risks if you bothered to find them.
Some tripe from a tin-foil hat wearing blogger IS NOT proof.
If its not verified & peer reviewed from reputable sources its misinformation.
(But sure, don’t mind that, its all a conspiracy isn’t it!)
This article from 1987 indicates the data shows a increased in risk of illness
http://m.ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/1/1.short.
It’s not some tin hat blogger but International Journal of Epidemiology that published that before blogs existed!
Now you will find for every one that says there is an increased risk, two will say there isn’t. But I will put it this way, if you lived in the path of these things would you take that risk?
There of course is proof in several reports of childhood leukaemia & other illnesses being higher near to high voltage lines but as these lines are almost always put in areas of low income, that serves as a mitigating factor to make these reports “inconclusive”.
The ” inconclusive” strategy was also used by the tobacco lobby in the US & elsewhere with great success for many years.
I & most parents I know would not allow any company no matter how powerful or well-connected to gamble with the health of my children. Do the right thing Eirgrid because ye aren’t getting away with putting up these pylons when going underground & off-shore is a better option in every way.
@Bluechip
thanks for that you always get people putting you down if you have issues with certain aspects of policies from our politicians. Tin hat and conspiracies eh? Oh you are never allow to question. Jobs for the country, progress for all, the country people in their one off houses how dare you worry about pollution, health, etc. so why did Dublin people protesting about pool beg, yes same issues. Talk about head in the sand. That lovely mentality of ‘I am alright jack’ is one aspect I hate about we Irish.
The peer-reviewing which once was the guarantee that a piece of research was of a high standard has been replace by pal-reviewing.
Cheers guys…
The best you could do was small 27 yr old report stating the below in quotes:
“Nor Is it possible to determine from the available data if the increase in leukaemia is due to electromagnetic fields or to other factors to which electrical workers are exposed.”
& then this little hum-dinger!!……
“There is no clear association between cancer risk and residence near sources transmitting electricity.”
Priceless…. The “proof” = a 27 year old paper proving nothing!
You NIMBYs have got to try harder!
Oh thank you too, for you made my point.
You focused on the elements of doubt in there completely ignoring the ‘suggests an 18% increase in the risk of leukaemia’ and ‘may be small increases in leukaemia in those living very close to the source’
I want to be very clear on this, I’m not a NIMBY. These pylons are going nowhere near where I live and to hell with the visual implications. What I’m saying is if there is an alternative, why would we force people living in this country to accept potential consequences to their health.
Their is a very clever way of improving our electrical system without the need of these pylons at fraction of the cost. But I guess big business is at play here and so the story goes in ireland once again profit and greed “over”ordinary people.
Please don’t believe the brain bubble gum RTE puts out.
Care to let us in on your secret? [gets tinfoil hat ready]
The British think this destruction of the Irish countryside is a great idea as this snippet from the Daily Telegraph shows. Without these wind farms there is no need for pylons.
“And nowhere is this more so than in the Irish midland counties of Meath, Westmeath, Offaly, Laois and Kildare where another 1,100 turbines are planned – some even bigger than at Finuge – to generate electricity for export to the UK.
The bright idea was that this would enable Britain to meet it’s own renewable energy targets while bypassing growing opposition at home, earning Ireland over £2 billion a year in the process. It was thought that the Irish would accept the turbines as they had in the past. But the very scale of the scheme has ignited an anti-wind movement which spread rapidly through the midlands and is now erupting elsewhere – as the villagers of Finuge are bearing vigorous witness.
Ah yes – first the UK pillaged our nature resources (i.e Oak forests) and people (The financial support provide by the landowners to the Empire) and now they are back to build turbines (that they don’t want built) to export power back to the UK and further afield.
Eirgrid a lazy self interest government body who cannot provide a cost benefit assessment for the total pylons infrastructure around Ireland.
Eirgrid say it will cost 3BN to build this network – what and how long is the payback period.
This infrastructure will also support the huge number of wind farms that are plans for around Ireland – Wind farms that are in other countries proving to be not as economical means of generating energy as the manufacturers specify.
Also don’t forget Cigarette companies in the 60-70′s were saying there was no conclusive evidence that Cigarette’s were bad for people and they had reports to that affect also, just as Eirgrid are saying there is no evidence to support the health impacts of over head lines.
Do we as the people of Ireland who live, work and travel in Ireland and also promote Ireland around the world, do we want those huge plyons on the tourists photos and the Failte ireland and Discover Ireland photos of our wonderful country.
There are other ways – for every problem there is a solution
It just takes the want to find that solution.
I was wondering how long it would take the ‘Eirgrid’ mongrels to come out in force on social media …
Roy Dowling, I’ve seen you around the internet and you’re a fool, regurgitating whatever you think will get you a thumbs up or down.
Kieran Casey – why not just by-pass the article if the topic doesn’t suit you, that’s what most people do, only those with a specific intention would even bother to log in and write such a pathetically ignorant and inconsiderate few words.
Joey Joe Joe – your style of interaction leads me to believe you have some personal financial gain to make as anyone with half an ounce of brain can already do the maths, and your eagerness with which you attack a young person who tries to engage in the debate and share their work just shows your own cruel character and people like you make my stomach turn,
It these Grids go ahead, they supply the transport route for electricity to Europe and the only people set to make a profit are the companies involved. We are already paying for it in our bills, our grants, our pension reserve funds etc.
There are studies focused on the health risks. Run a search on Prof Staines and Prof Henshaw, Or better still look up http://www.iea.org/newsroomandevents/speeches/Ireland_IDR.pdf or study up on the ‘Supergrid’ http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/resources/airtricity_supergrid_V1.4.pdf – There are people in other countries who already have experienced wind farm companies coming on to their lands and exploiting the commerce.
If wind energy and pylons were a good idea then there would not be such rage over the introduction of them. Remember it is rural Ireland we are talking about. Homes, Schools, Villages, Towns, Farms, Hotels, Rural Industry … We’re all here using 20% less electricity than we did during the boom years.
We already meet the 14% renewable energy target set out for us by Europe.
Those of you who don’t see what’s happening, that’s fine, you’ll hang around and learn, but those of you who are engaging in a deliberate attempt to bully, insult and misinform … shame on you. Traitors to your own land and your neighbours. Shame on you.
Thanks Siobhan!
thank god someone with some sense! I was just about to say me thinks Joey joe works for Eirgrid with all his lovely comments. Ha
Róisin, all you have to do is click on the name and follow it, you’ll see it’s a false account.
I just can’t figure out if he’s Eirgrid or Journal, I hope it’s not the Journal, ’cause I’m after gaining some respect for them and stuff like that would just ruin their reputation, I hope it’s not a bunch of lads in the office using the thread to amuse themselves and increase the ratings!
Jesus another pylon story ffs……
Eirgrid like to portray those opposed to their plans as NIMBY’s but that is far from the truth. I don’t live near one of these proposed routes but I care deeply about Ireland & it’s environment & as far as I am concerned the whole country is my back yard. Every pylon Eirgrid try to erect will be opposed & not just by locals of that area but by people from all over Ireland, whether Eirgrid’s first attempt to steamroll the people of Ireland is in Louth, Mayo or Wexford or elsewhere I’ll be driving up from Waterford to lend my support & so will thousands of others & Eirgrid will see their costs escalate very fast. So Eirgrid do the right thing & stop your bullying of rural Ireland & put these lines underground or off-shore.
Electromagnetic field exposure would be much stronger if they’re laid underground, simply because the trenches dug to lay those cables are not deep enough compared to the height of the pylons. Electromagnetic waves don’t require a medium, meaning they can even travel through vacumn. Moreover every electrical appliance we use everyday produces radiation, as in the below link. So in this day and age, one cannot avoid radiation unless people stop using electrical appliances altogether.
The NIMBYs must bury their microwave ovens too.
One of the main issues re health reports is that there has been a huge amount of industry consultants heading various panels. Take the WHO and Mr Repacholi, who also headed the Irish Governments review in 2007. Eirgrid needless to say quote from both of these sources as if they are independent and unbiased which they most certainly are not. Eirgrid also quote from a review done by a professor of Astronomy. And when Minister Reilly decided to ‘forget’ the letter he wrote concerning health effects, he was quoted in various papers, using a paragraph from an Eirgrid document. So who should we believe ? Independent scientific research or Eirgrid and their paid utility consultants? Anyone who is reading up on these things needs to first check up on who was on the panel involved and what their vested interests are. I for one would not like to live near any pylon and I certainly won’t mindlessly believe information given out by the electricity companies when it comes to the health of my children.
There is a solution to pylon controversary
Install a submarine cablein river shannon commencing at Ardnacrusha and finishing in Coleraine
Install a submarine cable in river shannon commencing at Ardnacrusha as far as turn off for Royal canal and strap it to canal wall the whole way to Dublin/Irish Sea
Result of this is that you have connected West Coast to North coast and also to East coast with two transmission lines
If necessary you could install a submarine cable from Great Island via river Barrow to join canal system in Athy and on again to Dublin
The permitations in our river network are endless and no pylons anywhere
Just think about the opportunities and Irish jobs involved
Shannon needs dredging to stop land flooding and this would be perfect opportunity to do this at same time
Ireland could resolve their power transmission problems for centuries ahead without destroying the countryside
There is no doubt that this is the way forward and the chosen way for sea crossings need to be transferred to rivers
Enda Kenny take note as Irish jobs using submarine method are far greater than using foreign manufactured pylons erected by foreign workers as normal
We need Politicians to lead and be brave with innovative decisions that avoid controversary and enquiries and tribunals……..
The submarine method in rivers would require no planning and would be completed within 5 years and not 10 as with pylons
The bullying, namecalling and dodging debates as practised by green zealots is backfiring on them as people wake up to all the scams going on such as pylons to send power abroad and renewable subsides paid to already wealthy insiders.
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