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the Church would dictate its terms. What I mean
is
that
it would be more satisfactory
if
the
Church's voice,
in a civil setting>
were heard
across the table from the voice of those who dis
agreed with it, and that it might actually be more
effective and more persuasive than if it is heard
merely at long range from Maynooth," he con
cluded.
Problems to be considered include:— (1) That,
under the Adoption Act 1952, the adoptive par
ents must be of the same religioon as the adopted
child.
(2) Whereas the minimum legal age of marriage
in the Republic is 12 years for girls and 14 years
for boys, yet it is an offence under the Criminal
Law Amendment Act 1935 to have intercourse
with a girl under 17 years.
(3) How far does Irish law recognise the val
idity of divorces granted by Courts in other coun
tries.
(4) Actions for criminal conversation which
affect a family should be heard in camera without
publicity.
Professor Michael Fogarty, director of
the
Economic and Social Research Institute, replying
to Senator Kelly, supported his suggestion for a
commission on the civil law of marriage.
On contraception, he said
that he regarded
Humanae Vitate
as a vital and inspired document,
which properly set down the attitude to sex we
should follow.
But, speaking as an orthodox
Catholic, he said, this did not necessarily mean
we should follow it letter by letter, in the way of
certain dioceses in this country.
Professor Fogarty felt that some interpretations
of
Humanae Vitae
were not in the orthodox
Catholic tradition. They were much more in that
of Bible-belt Protestantism, in the sense that they
rested on an unreasoned, face-value interpretation
of the document.
Some church authorities too
often threw the bare little page at us, and nothing
else, while elsewhere in the Catholic Church there
was experimentation and reconsideration going on,
around which was forming a new understanding;
this, he felt, would
leave the essential church
teaching on sex the same, but present a very differ
ent picture of one's day-to-day conduct on con
traception.
Senator Ruaidhri Brugha, Fianna Fail, said he
agreed with most of what Senator Kelly had said.
He didn't feel we would change the constitution
simply to appear more acceptable. We should
set our own house in order as it ought to be; if
we did this, we might find that others might like
to be in it.
(Irish Times,
13th March, 1971).
MINISTER PELTED WITH EGGS
The Minister for Justice, Mr. O'Malley, told
the Kevin Barry Cumann of Fianna Fail at
U.C.D. last night that it was surprising that so few
young people today took part in politics—then
had to be hustled out of the meeting under a
shower of eggs and
to the cries of "Fascist,
Fascist" from a group of protesters.
The Minister was speaking to a commemorative
meeting of the Cumann on "Youth in Politics"
and had just in the course of his address, begun
to speak about the Criminal Justice and Forcible
Entry Bill, when shouting and scuffles broke out
among the students, and about six young men
from the back of the hall began firing eggs.
Right through his speech, Mr. O'Malley was
heckled.
It was a matter of regret, he said, that such
a small proportion of young people held opinions
on public matters and only the more extreme
views were portrayed.
Mr. O'Malley then talked about the part the
news media played today in public affairs. To a
greater extent, he said, opinions were made for
people by the media, and people were less anxious
to think for themselves.
The Criminal Justice Bill, said Mr. O'Malley,
had 70 sections, which would need a lot of study
to be understood. In spite of all these facts, they
had been summoned up in one short half-hour
television programme, in one column in a news
paper article, and opinions had been made as a
result.
At that point, the meeting broke up. Eggs were
thrown at the Minister by a group of six or seven
young students at the back of the room. Scuffles
began between rival factions among the students,
245