Irish First Mothers

It was Ronald Reagan who in 1976 infamously seeded the racist " Welfare Queen " stereotype. The prime right-wing target for attack soon settled firmly on African-American mothers.  But the pejorative term went on to power a plethora of conservative witch-hunts against female recipients of State supports. These ongoing multi-decadal campaigns have so loaded the cultural landscape of US and EU tabloid political 'discourse' that the mere depiction of a single mother has been affected.  The modern and safe alternative is to latch on to the welcome gender neutrality of the term " Single Parent " - which facilitates an easy and politically correct alternative image. You see, the solo male parent is the ultimate escape clause. Males who parent are virtually hereos!   Which makes for much safer ground than the female mother with her associated "lazy, cheating slut" connotation. Yesterday, Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole ...

The current reform of the One Parent Family Payment means even greater poverty for  Ireland’s most vulnerable parents and children. Ruth Cullen of Single Parents Acting for the Rights of our Kids speaks  to Fintan Dunne about the reasons behind today's Dail Gates protest. http://www.onefamily.ie/   https://twitter.com/SPARKLeinster Sponsored by http://NeemWell.com

A damning Irish health services review of infant deaths and other anomalies, in Bessborough and Tuam mother and baby homes took place in 2012. But the report was not disclosed by the government during civil consultations on the terms of its official inquiry - now underway into the homes.   The Irish Examiner newspaper revealed today that the 2012 report confirmed the scale of the deaths and anomalies which would later achieve such prominence. So troubled were the authors, says the paper, that they urged the State to immediately establish an official judicial inquiry based on its findings. Nothing happened. Two years later , a fortunate international media spotlight on claims that around 800 infants were interred in Tuam, prompted the government to established an inter-departmental committee to coordinate its response. But the committee was blind to the previous investigation under the Dept. of Justice, even as it set up a "new" inquiry guided by the Dept. Chi...