This article is from page 14 of the 2012-11-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
THE organiser of a vigil for Savita Halappanavar in Ennis on Saturday said there will be further demonstrations and other actions if the government does not legislate for the X case.
According to organiser Ann Cronin, who ran as an Independent candidate in the last general election, action must be taken in the coming weeks to resolve the legal uncertainty highlighted by the death of Savita Halappanavar at University College Hospital in Galway last month.
The vigil attracted a crowd of almost 150 people, with a large number of passers-by joining in to show their support.
“It was a really good turnout. We had a nice turnout and a lot of people joined the vigil from the street. It was very encouraging that so many people showed up. It just shows you that this is such a personal matter and it affects a lot of people,” said Ann.
“No representative from any of the political parties showed up but then we didn’t go out of our way to invite anyone. I don’t think anyone in politics wants to touch this – it is too much of a hot potato. I think it is notable that all four of our elected candidates voted against legislation for this when it was proposed last year.
“I think it shows you exactly that they think of women’s health and how important it is for them.”
According to Ann Cronin, more events will be staged in Ennis in the weeks ahead if the government does not move quickly to resolve the situation.
“We will hold another event if there is no action. This isn’t going to go away, this is an issue that really upsets me and a lot of other people and I think that people realise that they have to do something about it – because if you wait for other people to do something then it will never happen,” continued Ann.
“This wasn’t just me and a bunch of my friends. This vigil was made up of strangers – men, women and families with children. People feel really strongly about this and the issue is not going to go away. People are not happy to wait for this to be resolved.”