Latest news with #SeanadÉireann
Irish Times
7 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Former senator and lord mayor of Dublin Carmencita Hederman dies aged 85
Former politician Carmencita Hederman , who served as lord mayor of Dublin during the city's millennium celebration in 1988, has died aged 85. Ms Hederman was an independent councillor on Dublin City Council from 1974 to 1999, and primarily represented the Pembroke area, although electoral boundaries sometimes varied. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin , she served in Seanad Éireann for one term from 1989 to 1993 as a member of the Dublin University Panel. She received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Trinity in 1988. She continued her activism long after leaving the political spotlight. In 2024 she cosigned a letter written by sitting senator Lynn Ruane to call for 'the immediate termination of business and research relationships between [Trinity] and Israeli institutions and companies, until such a time as the war in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine have ended'. READ MORE Former senator David Norris, MEP Mary Banotti and former Dublin lord mayor Carmencita Hederman at the Liffey Sprint Rowing Classic in 1989. Photograph: Jack McManus She succeeded eventual taoiseach Bertie Ahern as Lord Mayor of Dublin, with Ben Briscoe taking up the post after her in 1988. That year she was awarded the Rehab People of the Year Award, given to those 'who bring joy and light to the lives of others or have supported others in their darkest hours' for her political work. She was also awarded the Spirit of Dublin Award in 1988 'for her efforts to instil a community spirit in Dublin'. Irish Times photographer Tom Lawlor (left) at the launch of his collection of photographs Dublin - One in a Thousand, with former Dublin Dublin lord mayor Carmencita Hederman and broadcaster Pat Kenny in 1988. Photograph: Peter Thursfield Born Carmencita Cruess Callaghan on October 23rd, 1939, to an affluent Dublin family, in 1962 she married William (Billy) Hederman, a noted doctor and surgeon who was president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in the early 1990s. A mother of five and grandmother to nine, her daughter Wendy entered politics, also representing the Pembroke area from 2004 to 2008. She wrote in her election manifesto that 'for 25 years, my mother dedicated herself to ensuring the proper development of the area and protecting its amenities and village character'. Former lord mayor of Dublin Carmencita Hederman and her husband William Hederman in 2010. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh Ms Hederman died peacefully on Saturday at the Royal Hospital, Donnybrook. She was predeceased by her husband, who died in 2016, and is survived by five children. Ms Hederman's funeral will take place Wednesday in St Mary's Church, Haddington Road, after which a cremation ceremony will take place in Harold's Cross.
The Journal
31-05-2025
- General
- The Journal
Quiz: Could you answer these Leaving Cert questions?
IT MAY NOT be Leaving Cert weather outside but come rain or shine, the 2025 Leaving Certificate exams are kicking off this Wednesday. In case you haven't been plagued by a recurrent Leaving Cert nightmare yet this year, here's a quiz to test whether you could answer these questions that came up recently. Advertisement The questions are taken from higher level papers on the 2024 Leaving Cert exams (occasionally with some modification to put them in a quiz-friendly format). Bonne chance. Geography: Is it true or false that waves are known as constructive when the swash is greater than the backwash? True False Biology: Which of these is NOT considered a principle of good experimentation? Safe Unique Random selection Double-blind testing Accounting: When does an error of principle arise? An error of principle arises when an item is posted to the incorrect side of the correct class of account An error of principle arises when an item is posted to the correct side of the incorrect class of account An error of principle arises when an item is posted to the incorrect side of the incorrect class of account An error of principle arises when a school principal makes a philosophical mistake French: "Billie vit en banlieue parisienne, dans le département de Seine-Saint-Denis. Elle en a assez des clichés qu'elle entend sur son quartier. D'après elle, la ville où elle habite est super calme." After reading that passage, how would you answer the question, "Comment Billie décrit-elle sa ville de banlieue en Seine-Saint-Denis?" D'après elle, la ville où elle habite est cliché. D'après elle, la ville où elle habite est calme. D'après elle, la ville où elle habite est super calme. D'après elle, la ville où elle habite est super. Maths: h: R -> R is a continuous function. The graph of h(x) has a local minimum at the point (0, 5). State whether the following statement is true or false: 'The value of h(x) must be at least 5 for all real values of x." True False What?? Politics and Society: Which of these is NOT one of the ways Senators are appointed to Seanad Éireann? Nominated by the Taoiseach Elected by NUI and Trinity College graduates Nominated by the President Elected by TDs English: Write a short story focusing on tensions either in a family or in a group of friends in which a connection between the past and the present is important. Ah yeah, I could do that pretty well within an hour. Uh, no, I couldn't do a good job of churning that out on the spot. Gaeilge: Cé a chum an dán Géibheann? Maud Gonne Nuala NÍ Domhnaill Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin Caitlín Maude Business: Which of these is the definition of a partnership? Two businesses join together to form a new legal entity. A business taking control of another business by purchasing the majority of its voting shares. A business set up, owned and controlled by its members for their mutual benefit. A business with a minimum of two and a maximum of 20 owners. And finally, some chemistry: Name a suitable indicator for a titration of diluted vinegar solution against a 0.09 M sodium hydroxide solution in a conical flask. Litmus Methyl Orange Phenolphthalein Indicators are for cars. Answer all the questions to see your result! Alamy You scored out of ! Fail Back to school with you Share your result: Share Tweet Alamy You scored out of ! You've passed, barely Should have done a bit more cramming Share your result: Share Tweet Alamy You scored out of ! Average performance You'll get some points alright, but will it be enough for your course? Share your result: Share Tweet Alamy You scored out of ! Pretty good! Hopefully it'll impress everyone at the Debs Share your result: Share Tweet Alamy You scored out of ! Top of the class You've nabbed that H1 and you're off to college. Comhghairdeas. Share your result: Share Tweet Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Independent
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Meet the Cork woman who decided on an unusual entry into politics by taking up her daughter's seat
Kate Lynch was co-opted to Cork County Council in April after her daughter Eileen was elected to Seanad Éireann as part of the agriculture panel in February. Corkman Teacher turned Councillor Kate Lynch spoke to The Corkman about her journey into politics and how she's keeping a family tradition alive, following in both her daughter and sister's footsteps. In an unusual step in Irish politics, Kate Lynch was co-opted onto Cork County Council in April to take up her daughter Eileen's vacated seat after she was elected to Seanad Éireann as part of the agriculture panel in February.
Irish Times
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Michael McDowell: There is no ‘right' to subvert women's freedom to have their own events and spaces
The decision by the UK's supreme court on the meaning of the term 'woman' for the purposes of its Equality Act created a small but noisy reaction among trans activists. The court held that 'the concept of sex is binary' – that is, there is a male and a female sex. This outcome is reassuring for many people who have become increasingly alarmed and bewildered by the claims of trans ideologists that gender is, somehow, entirely separate from sex and is a social and psychological construct rather than observable reality. In Ireland, the Oireachtas enacted the Gender Recognition Act 2015 with an understanding that sex was not divorced from gender and that a person issued with a gender recognition certificate would if he was previously considered a man thereafter be regarded as a woman or if previously considered a woman thereafter be considered a man. The Irish legislation was unusually deficient, in my view, in that it required no form of corroboration whatever from those applying to have their gender legally changed. UK law only recognises male and female genders. The UK's Gender Recognition Act 2004 gave people with gender dysphoria legal recognition based on objective evidence of dysphoria. READ MORE Trans activists took satisfaction from their legislative achievement in Ireland, which eschewed any need for objective corroboration by people applying for gender recognition certificates. However, the Irish act, which was entirely binary in effect and analysis, was insufficient to satisfy the ideological aims of the trans activist community, however large it may be. By exertion of well-placed influence, they pressed forward with plans to replace the term 'women who are pregnant' with 'people who are pregnant' in social legislation. Official publications were urged to use non-sexual language to describe many aspects of womanhood. The HSE has used the term 'chestfeeding' in official documentation. Perhaps the high tide of the trans ideological wave came in 2022 with the evidence tendered by the government-appointed leader of Seanad Éireann, Regina Doherty , (now an MEP) that there were at least nine genders in existence , without limiting that number. To the best of my knowledge, neither she nor any of her colleagues in government ever attempted to enumerate these other genders, despite many requests that they should do so. She told The Irish Times that she feared that Ireland might have 'a summer of discontent' ahead of us, suggesting that a campaign to reverse the binary Gender Recognition Act 2015 might be launched by a 'very small but growing campaign'. And so the trans ideological train rolled on until it ran straight into the buffers in the form of massive rejection in the Family and Care referendums in March last year . Quite apart from the gross ineptitude and dishonesty deployed by the government at the time and its state-funded NGO allies in proposing those constitutional amendments, there was at the heart of the people's decision an antipathy towards removal from the Constitution of recognition for the value and status of motherhood itself. For many people, the significance of sex understood as a binary concept is reality – not an emotional or intellectual construct. Even the term 'same-sex attraction' means something. Among many gay and lesbian Irish people, whether married or not, there is a fundamental unease about their equal rights – as vindicated most recently in the marriage equality referendum – being handcuffed to an ideology which seeks to superimpose imagined genders over those of male and female. It is now years since I wrote here about our capacity to deal with gender dysphoria on a kind and a reasonable basis socially and legally, without abandoning the fundamental social and legal realities of sexuality, masculinity, femininity and motherhood. The mantra 'trans rights are human rights' is chanted in pursuit of trans ideological goals. For most people, the idea that a 6ft 3in man who may or may not have obtained a gender recognition certificate has a 'right' to participate in, say, women's rugby competitions is bizarre. Single-sex sports exist to reflect physical capacities and realities; they do not create such realities or infringe the rights of others who seek to avoid or deny such realities. There is no 'right' to subvert the freedom of women to have facilities and events confined to their own sex. There is nothing inhuman about asserting the contrary. The idea that a person convicted of rape and sexual assault against women as a man should have the right to be incarcerated as though a woman is so patently counterintuitive as to have done serious damage to Nicola Sturgeon 's Scottish government. David Cullinane TD was forced into an abject and humiliating apology and retraction of his initial statement that the UK decision was 'common sense' . While Sinn Féin is free to enforce party discipline over its members, the knee-jerk response to trans ideology and rejection of what most people would consider as common sense is part of a wider and more ingrained capacity for political, historical and social self-delusion.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Seven women among Seanad Éireann nominees
The leaders of the new Irish coalition government have confirmed 11 nominees to Seanad Éireann (the upper house of the Irish parliament). The nominations follow last November's general election and the election of the new government in the Dáil (lower house of parliament) in January. Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin and Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Simon Harris have selected a majority of woman for the posts following widespread criticism over the number of women appointed as ministers in the new government. Seven of the 11 Seanad nominees are woman. The taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Martin selected six nominees - former Limerick mayoral candidate Dee Ryan, former Galway East TD Anne Rabbitte, broadcaster and Louth general election candidate Alison Comyn, outgoing Dublin Senator Lorraine Clifford Lee, Tipperary Councillor Imelda Goldsboro and former Longford-Westmeath TD Joe Flaherty. The tánaiste and Fine Gael leader Harris has selected five - the well-known RTÉ sports broadcaster Evanne Ní Chuilinn (who has now resigned from her role at the national broadcaster), outgoing Donegal Senator Nikki Bradley, Cork Councillor Noel O'Donovan, Councillor Garrett Scahill from Roscommon, and Councillor Manus Boyle from Donegal. The are set to join the 49 elected senators in the upper house, among them former Northern Ireland Economy Minister Conor Murphy. This female majority among the nominees contrasts sharply with the female representation in the new Irish government. Twelve of the 15 senior ministers are men while 17 of the 23 junior ministers are also men. Seanad Éireann comprises 60 Members who are elected to five vocational panels, from two university constituencies or nominated by the government leaders. The main function of Seanad Éireann is to vote on or amend legislation. Bills can start and end in the Seanad as well as in the Dáil. However, the Dáil has the power to override the Seanad's rejection of a bill. The Seanad can also take part in the removal of the president from office or a judge of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, or High Court. It also has input on declaring a state of emergency. This is often noted as the most confusing part of the Seanad operation. The Seanad election must take place up to 90 days after Dáil Éireann has dissolved. This means that the new Dáil is formed before the Seanad election. Forty-nine of the Seanad's 60 members are elected, and 11 are nominated by the taoiseach. However, not everyone in Ireland can vote for the 49 elected members. Forty-three are elected from panels of candidates representing specified vocational interests. The panels are cultural and educational, agricultural, labour, industrial, and commercial and administrative. Candidates for panels are selected by nominating organisations or by members of the incoming Dáil or outgoing Seanad. The following people may vote in an election of panel members: Members of the incoming Dáil Members of the outgoing Seanad Members of county councils and city councils The remaining six members are elected by university graduates of Trinity College Dublin and the National University of Ireland. What is the Irish Seanad and how are senators elected? Conor Murphy quits Stormont after being elected to the Seanad
