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Irish Times
2 days ago
- Health
- Irish Times
Minister who lost two siblings to cancer introduces ‘right to be forgotten' law
Cancer survivors will have the 'right to be forgotten' to allow them to obtain mortgage protection without discrimination based on their past diagnosis. Legislation is now expected to be passed by the Oireachtas in the autumn. It was first introduced in the Seanad by then Fianna Fáil senator Catherine Ardagh in October 2022, was reintroduced by her as a TD in the Dáil in February, and has now been taken up by the Government. Minister of State for Finance Robert Troy said: 'For too long cancer survivors in Ireland have faced a challenging and unfair situation where they can be refused cover or be charged higher premiums because of their past diagnosis.' Mr Troy said the Central Bank (Amendment) Bill 'aims to put a stop to this by giving effect to the right-to-be-forgotten concept that is now becoming recognised throughout Europe'. Laws are already in place in France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. READ MORE The Minister, who has special responsibility for insurance, reintroduced the Bill in the Dáil on the last day before the summer recess. Mr Troy said: 'I lost two siblings to cancer and I see it as a great privilege to be in a position to effect positive change.' The Bill 'gives statutory weight to protections that were previously voluntary, making them enforceable by law'. He said his is a 'crucial step forward'. 'At the heart of the Bill is the straightforward but powerful principle that, where survivors have completed treatment and remained in remission for a defined period, a past cancer diagnosis should not be held against them in the underwriting of mortgage protection insurance.' They will not have to disclose their cancer after a set period of remission. A five-year timeline is under consideration. [ Buying a home after surviving cancer: 'No matter how much paperwork I gave, it never sufficed for mortgage protection' Opens in new window ] Under a previous, voluntary code, not adopted by some insurers, a survivor could access mortgage protection after seven years of remission or five years if individuals were diagnosed when under the age of 18. The Bill focuses solely on cancer survivors and mortgage protection and does not cover other financial products or medical conditions. Mr Troy said this is for 'prioritisation and pragmatism'. They were taking a 'stepwise approach similar to other EU member states, focusing first on where the need is greatest and where there is the clearest evidence base'. Ms Ardagh said discrimination can be very damaging, 'with people having to relive their cancer diagnosis'. People have been quoted 'prohibitively high premiums' despite being in remission for many years. 'It has meant house purchases collapsing at the very last minute, family plans being put on hold, or feeling trapped by a system that continues to define them by the most difficult chapter in their lives.' Sinn Féin's Máire Devine welcomed the Bill but questioned if five years cancer-free was fair. There are 'the difficult years of battling cancer', but only when they are cancer-free 'does the clock start for five years of waiting to apply for a mortgage'. 'That does not seem right to me,' she said.
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, July 21st: On what political polls reveal, defending bedsits, and waking up to woke
Sir, – According to your recent poll, 25 per cent of voters are undecided, and 20 per cent of those who did express a preference said they would vote for an Independent candidate. Doing the maths, this means that a total of 40 per cent of the electorate do not support any of the nine political parties in the Oireachtas. Is this a record for your series of polls? This suggests a truly extraordinary level of dissatisfaction with both the two main parties and with the various parties of the left, and that an unhealthy proportion of the electorate feel disconnected from our political presents significant dangers. READ MORE First, every single country in Europe – without exception – has at least one new party on the populist right which emerged over the last two decades, capitalising on a similar disconnect among voters, and which now enjoys at least 25 per cent of the vote. Do we think that Ireland is immune from this trend? All that's needed is the emergence of a party with credible leadership which has broad appeal to urban and rural voters. Second, the ground which any new party might seize is that same ground on the centre right which has been completely abandoned by both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil over the last decade, and whose combined total support continues to plumb historic depths in your opinion polls as a result. If one or both of these parties doesn't return to this political ground, then they may find – as establishment parties have in Europe – that they will have the electoral rug taken out from under them. – Yours, etc, BARRY WALSH, Clontarf, Dublin 3. Bishop Eamonn Casey removal Sir, – Credit to the Galway diocese for taking the absolutely correct decision in removing Bishop Eamonn Casey's remains from the crypt in Galway Cathedral. I was sure they would play the long game and hope it would all be forgotten about. Well done to the decision makers. – Yours, etc, JOE HARVEY, Glenageary, Dublin. Medical consultation fees Sir, – Regarding Niall H Doyle's letter about a GP consultation fee hike to €90 (July18th), my GP is also in Rathfarnham and charges a far more reasonable ¤60. I'm now alarmed that he may be an Irish Times reader! – Yours, etc, ANNETTE QUINN, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16. Sir, – Your writer to The Irish Times asks if €90 is a record for a GP consultation fee. I can confirm an extraordinary fee paid to a local chiropodist – €90 some months ago. When I stated the fee was more than I would pay to my doctor, the chiropodist reply was that she was the senior chiropodist. I considered the charge was outrageous and did not avail of the service again. – Yours, etc, MARY McCARTHY, Blackrock, Co Dublin. Local property tax increases Sir, – I was disappointed to read 'T he Irish Times view on the local property tax ,' July 15th. The editorial took a clear stance that 'homeowners can pay a bit more' and criticised the decision taken by myself and my colleagues on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to maintain the 15 per cent reduction in the LPT rate for next year. Surprisingly, the editorial made no reference to the revaluation of properties for LPT purposes that will take place in November. This revaluation, taking into account the significant property price increases since 2021, will result in all homeowners paying a bit more in 2026. It is estimated that this revaluation will see homeowners in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown contribute an extra €10.85 million to next year's council budget. This will facilitate significant expansion of the council's budget for 2026, well ahead of inflation. In this context, I do not see how we could justify imposing further tax increases on local homeowners. – Yours, etc, CLLR EOIN O'DRISCOLL (FG), Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Dublin. Minding children Sir, – I refer to your letter from Siobhán McDermott regarding long summer holidays (July 19th). Teachers are educators, not childcare providers. Schools are educational establishments, they do not exist to mind children while parents work. Deciding to have children means that you take responsibility for them and care for them regardless of how inconvenient that might be for your working life. Let's look at the workplace. – Yours, etc, KATHY CURZON, Co Cork. Sir, – To all those young parents sitting in cafes and parks busy on their phones and devices while ignoring their toddlers and children, I suggest a listen to the song Cat's in the Cradle by Harry Chapin would be useful. He describes so well how; fast forward 10 or 15 years, your children may be less interested in chatting to you than they are now. Enjoy it while you can. – Yours, etc, DAVID S KELLY, Dublin 16. Waking up to woke Sir, – As a plus -70 year-old grandfather I've only become aware of the word 'woke' lately. I hear it being used as a term of derision by various individuals on radio and social media. It seems to this old geezer that to have empathy with people who are suffering or downtrodden is a symptom of wokeness. To be accepting of LGBTQ folk and other ethnicities is also a sign that you might be inclined to be woke. To be on the side of the women and children in Palestine would definitely qualify you. I personally tick a lot of the boxes to be labelled a woke oul fella. And I'm'm proud of it. – Yours, etc, PAT BURKE WALSH, Ballymoney, Co Wexford. In defence of bedsits Sir, – Many years ago, I spent some quality time in a bedsit in Clontarf in Dublin. It was on the third floor of a large period house shared with four other bedsits on the same floor. In modern day estate agent parlance, it would be described as comfortable, in a highly sought after area, good value for money in the current challenging rental market, ergonomically compact with modern conveniences and nice sea views. In reality, the single bed was jammed up against the wall and took up over 75 per cent of the room. The wardrobe consisted of a length of coarse twine hovering over the bed, one end tied to the curtain rail and the other attached to a six-inch masonry nail partially hammered into the door frame. The cooking facilities included a two-ring camping gas stove balanced precariously on an orange box advertising sun-kissed oranges from Seville. There was a small corner sink by the window. The sea could be viewed by exiting the building and walking down the road towards Dublin Bay. Crucially, the main convenience, the toilet, was located on the landing and shared by all and sundry, often resulting in slow moving queues, particularly bothersome when nature was pressing, Of course, a bedsit wouldn't be a bedsit without at least a couple of resident mice, but I had at least four. We coexisted for the while as I didn't bother them and they didn't bother me. The real convenience, not to be underestimated, was that, such was the proximity to everything, all the conveniences could be operated without getting out of bed in the morning, like putting on the kettle, brushing your teeth and turning on the cooker with your big toe to make the porridge, thus gaining an extra 10 minutes shut eye before going to work. In retrospect, the experience wasn't all bad, but like the banks and the financial system and everything else at the time, the much-maligned bedsit suffered from light touch or, more accurately, zero regulation, but surely the resurrection of the modest bedsit could make substantial inroads into the current homeless and housing problems. – Yours, etc, JOHN LEAHY, Wilton Road, Cork. Revenue hours Sir, – The contact hours for Irish revenue are 9.3 0am–4.30pm. If only the rest of the working population had these terms of employment. – Yours, etc, MARY GARDINER, Co Wicklow In praise of Fintan Sir, – Fintan O'Toole's moving and disturbing account of the 'non-resting place' at the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby home in Tuam (July 15th) is typical of his eloquence, knowledge, research and insight. I am inclined to say that there is really no one in my own country quite his match – or I would be if we didn't have the good fortune of being able to read him regularly in The New York Review of Books. – Yours, etc, VICTOR LUFTIG, Virginia, United States. Garda check point Sir, – I was startled today by the headline, ' Garda revokes more that 900 speed camera fines on stretch of N25 due to human error, ' (July 18th). To my great relief, the headline did not reflect the article's content. A single garda had not taken unilateral action to cancel hundreds of fines. It was actually the organisation – An Garda Síochána – which had taken action. What a relief! – Yours, etc, S NESTOR, Co Louth. Carry on writing Sir, – Little did I realise that a casual decision to write to another national newspaper would trigger a flurry of correspondence about how to be published in this newspaper. I can assure you and your readers that it was not a migration, merely akin to a midweek break. I decided to unmask myself as to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, there is only one thing worse than being written about and that is to be written about anonymously. – Yours, etc, DAVID LOUGHLIN, Rathmines, Dublin 6. Sir, – As regular letter writers to The Irish Times have attested, most letters don't get published. The limited available space cannot accommodate all the submissions. The editor is left with the difficult job of choosing only a few. Far from this being seen as a problem, most letter writers don't seem to mind, and many probably enjoy that it is difficult, as it then seems more of an achievement if a letter does get in. Overall, this tried and tested system of selection and curation, used by many newspapers and magazines, works well. The typical letters page contains a diverse range of opinions, politely conducted arguments, praise and dispraise of people for their actions or views, and plenty of good-natured debate and disagreement. The same cannot always be said of forums where everything gets published. – Yours, etc, COLIN WALSH, Templeogue, Dublin 6W. Sir, – I share the frustration of your many letter writers whose efforts are not acknowledged in your pages. I too have written innumerable letters . . . to the Ephesians, Thessalonians, Corinthians, Timothy et al. To date I have not received one reply. –Yours, etc, (Paul) TOM McGRATH, Ashford, Co Wicklow. Sir, – I didn't realise that the easiest way to get a letter published is to write one about a letter being published. May I have one too? – Yours, etc, DR MARIA O'BRIEN, Bayside, Dublin.
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
It will be an ‘insult' if Fianna Fáil don't enter presidential race, says Mary Hanafin
Fianna Fáil should run a candidate in the presidential election , and it will be 'an insult' to the office if the party does not enter the race, former Fianna Fáil minister for education Mary Hanafin has declared. 'I firmly believe that the largest party of the country, which is the largest at local level, largest at national level, should be running,' said Hanafin, who has made clear her desire to be the party's candidate. Speaking at the Patrick MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, Ms Hanafin said: 'First of all, I think it's an insult to the office of president if you're willing to run for everything but you won't run for the office of president. 'Secondly, I think you have an obligation to give the people of Ireland a choice. Because it is the politicians who give you that choice,' said Hanafin, who has yet to receive public support from senior Fianna Fáil figures. READ MORE Saying that the theme of her campaign, if nominated, will be resilience, she said: 'I think my life experience is such that a word that actually has come up an awful lot here tonight is something that I would bring as my platform, which is resilience. 'I think I have been lucky enough, despite all of the knocks that we all experience, to bounce back each time,' said Ms Hanafin, who emphasised the 30 years of experience she has had as TD, minister, councillor. People in Northern Ireland should not be allowed to vote in presidential elections, she said: 'Not yet, and not in isolation. I think there's not enough understanding between communities within Northern Ireland and North-South.' Pointing to controversies during last week's Orange Order bonfires, including the burning of effigies , she said: 'There's still a journey to go before we get any kind of real understanding and real political understanding.' The Government's Shared Island programme, which bids to improve North-South co-operation, should be progressed 'to break down the boundaries', she told the Patrick MacGill Summer School. Saying that President Michael D Higgins is 'loved' by the public, Ms Hanafin said: 'The Irish people of all ages love their president, love their president, and that starts because they voted for their president. 'There is that sense of ownership. Even younger people under the age of 35 who could never get to be president until they're 35, just look at the way they love Michael D, particularly, and they respond to him,' she said. Continuing, she said: 'He pushed the boundaries in talking about world problems, but he didn't go beyond it. He didn't go beyond his constitutional role, and I think that the next president, or any president, should not start where he has finished. 'You bring it back to the start again and push your own boundaries. Because times change, issues change, problems change. The debate that you want to generate, the campaign that you're quietly launching can be done within that Constitution.' However, the next occupant of the Áras should not conflict with the Taoiseach and the Government: 'I think there is a wisdom in not overstepping the independence because you do not want to have a Taoiseach and a president in conflict about where a country stands.' Meanwhile, Seán Gallagher, who twice ran for the presidency, said his legacy will be that no other presidential candidate will be treated by RTÉ in the way that he was treated in 2011, when his campaign was derailed in the final stages by a false tweet. Ruling himself out of the race , he said his life had moved on, but he expressed concern at the reluctance of so many to come forward because they feared they would be 'annihilated' in a campaign that has become bruising in recent years. Mr Gallagher declared, to applause, that: 'The thing that frustrates me is negativity. I hate negativity because I want to say to people, 'Stop running down our country. Let's talk about the good things.' 'Let's stop being victims in our own lives. What can we do with our own careers, our own families, our own communities, our own country? Why are we afraid? Because we're inhibited by this Irish psyche that says, 'Don't get notions. Don't get above your station.' 'I say to hell with that. Get above your station. Be the best that you can be,' he said, 'there is a mentality in Ireland, and it is to take us down, to take each other down rather than build each other up.' The next president should take the lead in selling Ireland abroad, said Mr Gallagher: 'We could have a president on the stage attracting foreign direct investment into Ireland.' Equally, the winner of the election later this year could lead Ireland's effort to attract tourists and students to come to Ireland, 'or tapping into the 40 million Americans and the global diaspora'. Pointing to his experience of watching Mary McAleese in Shanghai, he said: 'The power when the president walks into a room of business leaders in China is beyond anything that you would experience here because we are so close to the president.' Referring to his first run in 2011, Mr Gallagher said: 'It's not lost on me that ... 14 years later one of the greatest challenges the country has is from a president who is an entrepreneur, a TV personality and in real estate.'
Irish Times
17-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Seán Gallagher says he will not be entering presidential election race
Former presidential candidate Seán Gallagher has said he will not be running to succeed Michael D. Higgins in Áras an Uachtaráin. Mr Gallagher finished second in the 2011 presidential election after being regarded as the front-runner for much of the campaign. However, during an RTÉ Frontline programme, the final debate of the campaign, a Twitter post wrongly claiming a man had given Mr Gallagher money for a Fianna Fáil fundraiser was read out by presenter Pat Kenny . The businessman, a former Dragons' Den panellist, had ran as an Independent candidate but his opponents accused him of being a proxy for Fianna Fáil, which was in the doldrums after the EU-IMF bailout and a disastrous general election in 2011. READ MORE The incident, just three days before polling day, derailed Mr Gallagher's momentum. Mr Higgins received more than 700,000 votes as he won his first term as President. Mr Gallagher polled more than 500,000 first preference votes. RTÉ later apologised to Mr Gallagher and paid him substantial damages for statements made on the programme. It acknowledged the programme 'fell significantly short of the standards expected by the public and required by law'. Mr Gallagher would run again in 2018 but made little impression on that occasion, polling just 6.4 per cent. He was rumoured to be considering another run at the presidency this year, and was seen in discussion with Independent TDs in Leinster House on two recent occasions. He had previously declined to confirm or deny any intentions. However, he on Thursday told The Irish Times he does not intend to enter the race. Fine Gael this week nominated former European commissioner Mairead McGuinness as its candidate, while Independent TD Catherine Connolly launched her campaign on Wednesday.
Irish Times
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Could Mary Lou McDonald be about to enter the presidential race?
Ellen Coyne and Harry McGee join Pat Leahy to look back on the week in politics: When Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald was asked on Monday if she was ruling herself out of this year's contest to succeed Michael D Higgins , she replied, 'we're not ruling anything in or anything out.' But could a tilt at the presidency be a potential career-ender for Mary Lou? Elsewhere, those ruling themselves firmly in include Galway West Independent TD Catherine Connolly , who says she plans to launch her presidential election bid next week. The veteran Donegal TD Pat the Cope Gallagher says he is considering seeking Fianna Fáil nomination to run, but Fine Gael's Seán Kelly has ruled himself out, with Mairead McGuinness now widely expected to seek Áras election. The Occupied Territories Bill is now undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny. The big question remains whether the proposed bill will include services along with the prohibition of trade in goods with Israeli companies operating in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories. Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week: The throwaway lyrics of Oasis , the social cohesion of the July 12th bonfires , and when crying in public is the natural thing to do.
