Live Pre-election Q&A session

with Sorcha Nic Cormaic, Sinn Féin
held Thursday 17th February 2011

Mykidstime Ok folks, we're going to finish up now and say thanks to Sorcha for joining us. For any questions that we didn’t get to, we will make sure Sorcha sees them.
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Rachel Maguire thank you for answering the questions Sorcha and thank you Mykidstime!

Lèon Fox Hi Sorcha, SF have proposed they will reverse the cuts to social welfare and public services in 2011 budget, where is the money coming from to do this?
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Denis Leonard hi sorcha thank u for coming on 2nite,please can u tell me whats yer stand on SHELL,and what they are doing up in mayo?And did u see that progman on tng the other nite ?
Denis Leonard AM i the only one that didint get a respond ,or am i on the wrong place?
Mykidstime Hi Denis - Sorcha is working her way through the questions
Lèon Fox Thanks for hijacking my q denis, hope she answers both ;)
Debra Crawley Doyle No Denis, you're not alone, but I'm sure she'll get around to us, she's giving some quite detailed answers :)
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Rachel Maguire maybe the top of the page migh work?
Mykidstime Sorcha answered Leon's question: The first thing Leon is to sort out the mess that FF made of the public finances, a deficit of 18,7 billion in chronic debt. We would immediately introduce a new budget with a range of measures including a n...ew 48% tax rate on those earning ...more than 100,000 which would allow us to abolish the universal social charge. We would get rid of a whole range of tax exemptions which disproportionately benefit the wealthy (saving almost 2billion). We wound introduce a 1% wealth tax. We would have wideranging cuts to ministers and TDs salaries and cap public sector wages and stop using public money to subsidise private healthcare and private education. You can't cut your way out of this crisis. As mentioned on another question we need to get people back to work. No more money into toxic banks.See more
Mykidstime Sorcha answered Denis' question: Program was brilliant. I've been up there myself, though not recently. We were fully behind the people of rossport in their protest. We boycotted Shell and for a long time during the big protests SF were around the country picketing Shell stations (now Topaz btw). We also were highly critical and still are of FF's handing over, for free, the rights to our natural resources. Think of the money that could have been made for the exchequer
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Debra Crawley Doyle Hi Sorcha, where does Sinn Féin stand on Irish Soldiers being given Lariam as an anti malarial drug?
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic Thanks everyone, I hope I was able to answer most of the questions. I will try and get to the others I missed. That hour was one of the quickest I've ever experienced.
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Lynn Hanlon well dne sorcha an good luck nxt week :)
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Mykidstime Darren asked earlier "Sorcha, I would like to ask is it not time to cut the apron strings with Gerry Adams as he is having a negative effect on SF's election campaign? He brings too much baggage with him for people looking to move past the politics of old."
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic In my opinion Darren Gerry Adams was an integral part of the move away from the politics of old. The peace process could not have completed without the support and hard work of the likes of Adams and McGuinness
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Darren McCarthy I absolutely agree with you, undoubtedly they have done marvelous work in the North but the polls indicate he is not doing any favours for SF down here, surely time to look at someone like Pearse Doherty? This country is crying out for new blood
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic Pearse is a fantastic asset to the party there's no doubt but Gerry's not gone yet, and I've been at meetings with the man, he's far from economically illiterate. Slipping up cos he doesn't know the child benefit rate does not mean he doesn't understand the bigger questions regarding public spending etc. The media are always gonna give him a hard time but that's no reason to quit politics. Keep at it till you can do no more.
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Bridgette Keane Well he should know you have been able to answer questions using comparison to Northern Ireland.
Ann Barrett A lot of people don't want Gerry Adams coz of his part in the pass people out here are still waiting for answers
Marguerite Anne O Brien I would hold on to Gerry Adams as he has good communication skills, great experience with world leaders and passion but Pearse Doherty, now theres a communicator with brains ! just what this country needs !Im still reeling from the excellent first speech he gave in the Dail and he continues ........
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic Regarding the Universal Social Charge (I'm told someone asked a question on it though I can't see it) It's an unfair tax as it is regressive and has bigger impact on low and middle income earners. Retailers expect the USC to have crippling effect on consumers and lead to more job lossed int the retail sector. There was no impact asses...sment of the effect this charge would have on low and middle income earners or on small business (unlike the approach taken to the proposed abolition of property based tax reliefs) We are totally against it
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Mykidstime Bridgette Keane wants to know "If you were to be elected as a TD will you resign from your Teaching Post or take a career break?"
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic We do not agree with teachers keeping their posts, I have given a committment to my party that if I am elected I will resign my post. Signed sealed and delivered.
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Bridgette Keane Nice to see this. If you are in a position to help form a Government will SF make sure that they will only give support if all TD's followed suit.
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Mandie Duke Leenheer Same question.... What is your policy about providing secular education. Also, how are you going to ensure that all faiths and none are welcomed as teachers ie creating a multi- denominational teacher training facility?
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Mykidstime Sorcha has answered: Regarding the separation of church and state for me the issue boils down to democratic contol. Sinn Féin stongly advocate a full separation of church and state. I'm a primary teacher working in a catholic school, there ...are few other options out there. The way our education system is managed needs to be totally reformed. I do not agree with a system,whereby bishops and others are so-called patrons of schools which are funded by the State. We don not deny the parents of Catholic children the right to send their children to a catholic school, that should be an opption for them but in this country it is still the case that many parents have their children baptized primarily to ensure that they can get into local schools. That is a disgrace and highlights the need to complete the separation of Church and State. This must be complete in the 26 counties as it is in the 6 counties where Sinn Féin are in Government
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Mykidstime Denis Leonard says hi sorcha thank u for coming on 2nite,please can u tell me whats yer stand on SHELL,and what they are doing up in mayo?And did u see that progman on tng the other nite ?
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic Program was brilliant. I've been up there myself, though not recently. We were fully behind the people of rossport in their protest. We boycotted Shell and for a long time during the big protests SF were around the country picketing Shell stations (now Topaz btw). We also were highly critical and still are of FF's handing over, for free, the rights to our natural resources. Think of the money that could have been made for the exchequer
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Theresa Carter and all that extra co2 to give rise to higher global temps. Unlike our children's temps though, calpol or neurofen won't sort it :(
Denis Leonard thanks sorcha had to leave ye there for a few mins ,just one more thing ,what ur view on the irish horticulture ,they are going through hell with the weather and no help from our govm ,what help would sf give to them ?
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Denis Leonard well done SORCHA for all them answers ,good to know there young people still here that have a backbone to come on this and try there best to give answers well done girl
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Sean Maguire Global warming is a taxation scam Theresa...mainstream media isn't enough to attain the true picture; but a bit of research would sort it out!
Sean Maguire I would've asked about the horticulture as well Denis, sorry I was out! Sounds like Sorcha was the best of the bunch in these debates. Fair play to her!
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic And also the one by denis leonard. I'm scrolling like mad here but can't see it
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Mykidstime coming up again
Denis Leonard ive got to go ,if u do get the chance to answer my qt please do ,and i love to know what u would do about the irish horticulture bussns they after having a few horrible years and no help from anyone
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Mykidstime Thanks for joining us Denis, we'll try to get your questions answered
12 hours ago · LikeUnlike

Darren McCarthy Sorcha, I would like to ask is it not time to cut the apron strings with Gerry Adams as he is having a negative effect on SF's election campaign? He brings too much baggage with him for people looking to move past the politics of old.
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Mykidstime Sorcha answered: In my opinion Darren Gerry Adams was an integral part of the move away from the politics of old. The peace process could not have completed without the support and hard work of the likes of Adams and McGuinness

Nós Furniture Hi Sorcha, what is your stance on the universal social charge?
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Mykidstime We also had the same question from Colm
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Mykidstime Sorcha's answer: Regarding the Universal Social Charge (I'm told someone asked a question on it though I can't see it) It's an unfair tax as it is regressive and has bigger impact on low and middle income earners. Retailers expect the USC t...o have crippling effect on consumers and lead to more job lossed int the retail sector. There was no impact asses...sment of the effect this charge would have on low and middle income earners or on small business (unlike the approach taken to the proposed abolition of property based tax reliefs) We are totally against itSee more
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Paul Fox The other 4 parties have all stated they won't go in to government with SF, do you believe they will stick with this opinion if SF manage to secure a good number of seats?
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Fiona Lacey hi sorcha. i am due to graduate next year and as it stands it looks as though i will need to go abroad in order to find work. could you tell me what sinn feins policies are on job creation and what you will do in order to keep young graduates from needing to emigrating??
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Mykidstime Sorcha answered: Hi Fiona, Sinn Féin have a 10-point plan on job creation which includes a job-stimulous package. We want to transfer 7billion euro from the nationa pension reserve fund (the government are already planning to flush 10 billi...on of the 14 bill...ion fund down the anglo irish bank toilet). The money would be deployed in the growning agri-food sector, health infrastructure (involving the building and resourcing of local healthcare centres), school-buildings and refurbishment and créches (downloadable form www.sinnfein.ie and fully costed) The stimulus makes sound economic sense as the cost of having all those people unemployed instead of working and the lace of money being spent in the economy will land us in worse trouble than we are already in. We would not spend another cent of taxpayers money on toxic bank debt and use it as briefly outlined above to create 40,000 jobsSee more
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Mykidstime Lèon asks Hi Sorcha, SF have proposed they will reverse the cuts to social welfare and public services in 2011 budget, where is the money coming from to do this?
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic The first thing Leon is to sort out the mess that FF made of the public finances, a deficit of 18,7 billion in chronic debt. We would immediately introduce a new budget with a range of measures including a new 48% tax rate on those earning ...more than 100,000 which would allow us to abolish the universal social charge. We would get rid of a whole range of tax exemptions which disproportionately benefit the wealthy (saving almost 2billion). We wound introduce a 1% wealth tax. We would have wideranging cuts to ministers and TDs salaries and cap public sector wages and stop using public money to subsidise private healthcare and private education. You can't cut your way out of this crisis. As mentioned on another question we need to get people back to work. No more money into toxic banks.See more
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Lynn Hanlon fair play nice to see sum politicians have an answer to our HUGE finance problem .....
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Eimer Lovett The only problem with this is that if you put such huge taxes on the wealthy in this country who do you think will stay in Ireland to create all the jobs you are talking about. Surely it is the wealthier sector of our economy that are funding much of the job creation
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic ‎@eimer our over-riding philosophy is that those who earn the most should pay the most. People can still be wealthy, but sinn féin believe that the huge deficit between the wealthy and the less-well off should be reduced, especially in times of crisis, for the common good, otherwise the country is going to be in deeper and deeper trouble. Everyone has to take a hit, but expecting the low and middle income earners and the unemployed to foot the bill is just not on our agenda.
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Sean Maguire It was obvious through my time living abroad that NEWLY elected parties taking over someone else's mess, needs to be given time for their implemented solutions/actions to work and take effect. What you say is just common sense. I love it. I just hope the Irish people don't fall for political skullduggery and be fooled into thinking it will just change overnight! The last shower were given a decade!
Sean Maguire Initially taxing the wealthier to get out of a crisis is a wise move only if the promise of a percentage tax rate being equal across the board is introduced after the shortfall is met.

Colm Kenny Hi Sorcha, what is your stance on the universal social charge?
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic Colm, I answered it and I think Jill posted it up as an answer to another question
Sorcha Nic Cormaic did you get to see it?

Theresa Carter I would like to know how sf can separate the IMF/ECB deal to give a sovereign only loan?
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Theresa Carter kids activities - I'm never home on time!

Sorcha Nic Cormaic I'm told there's a question from leon fox but i can't see it. Could it be re-posted please?
Mykidstime will do hang on a tick

Mykidstime Paul Fox would like to ask "The other 4 parties have all stated they won't go in to government with SF, do you believe they will stick with this opinion if SF manage to secure a good number of seats?"
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic Good question Paul. I can tell you for a fact we won't be going into Government with FG and I can't for the life of me imagine how Labour could. Our intentions would be to form a broad left alliance with people before profit, socialist party, left minded independants and Labour (although they would have to significantly shift to the left to be considered by us or anyone else in a broad left alliance)
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Darren McCarthy Labour have categorically stated they will not go into a coalition with SF
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic Yeah, but Labour have said they'd go into coalition with FG, and they haven't stopped hammering their policies over the last two weeks. What are voters supposed to make of that?
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Darren McCarthy Have talks taken place between SF and labour about a possible coalition?

Sorcha Nic Cormaic Sorry this is taking so much longer than I expected, I want to say so much in my answers but can't. I feel I'm already over-doing it slightly and can't believe its 9.30 already!!!
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Mykidstime That's ok Sorcha, anything you don't get to tonight you can come back and answer later :)
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Carol Faughnan Thats understandable... its a little different to canvassing alright!
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Ber O'Connell Fair play to Sorcha answering every question bein put to her, last few nights a few q's have been avoided. Very informative.
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Mykidstime Fiona Lacey says hi sorcha. i am due to graduate next year and as it stands it looks as though i will need to go abroad in order to find work. could you tell me what sinn feins policies are on job creation and what you will do in order to keep young graduates from needing to emigrating??
You and 6 others like this.
Sorcha Nic Cormaic Hi Fiona, Sinn Féin have a 10-point plan on job creation which includes a job-stimulous package. We want to transfer 7billion euro from the nationa pension reserve fund (the government are already planning to flush 10 billion of the 14 billion fund down the anglo irish bank toilet). The money would be deployed in the growning agri-food sector, health infrastructure (involving the building and resourcing of local healthcare centres), school-buildings and refurbishment and créches (downloadable form www.sinnfein.ie and fully costed) The stimulus makes sound economic sense as the cost of having all those people unemployed instead of working and the lace of money being spent in the economy will land us in worse trouble than we are already in. We would not spend another cent of taxpayers money on toxic bank debt and use it as briefly outlined above to create 40,000 jobs
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Darren McCarthy ‎7 billion to create 40,000 jobs over what period of time? How can we allow the banking system to fail? Without it we all go under.
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Rachel Maguire I think we'd be fine without the corrupt banks
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Eimer Lovett You would have to return to a barter system if there was no banking system. No bank cards, no bank accounts, etc. Every country needs some kind of banking system.
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic We protect sovereign debt Darren. Taxpayers money should only be invested into a properly funcioning, cleaned up state bank. We would start by merging AIB and BOI and protecting depositors in the other banks. We woulnd not put 30.6 billion of taxpayers money into toxic banks like Anglo. Money starts to go in in six weeks and will go in every year for the next ten years. Instead a proportion of that money could be used to recapitalise a nationalised AIB and BOI. The capitalisation needs of these banks is currently less than 10 billion!
Sorcha Nic Cormaic In terms of the jos stimulus package I've gone on at length and there's so much more, it is fully costed and can be easily analysed on our website. www.sinnfein.ie
Rachel Maguire Surely there has to be a non corrupt one somewhere!! credit union? but hey the lets system probably would be better than what we have now. Am in the process of getting rid of my bank accounts and am feeling a lot less ripped off : )
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Tara Curran Micháel Martin stated on the 5 way debate on tues that there is only 3.9billion in the pension reserve fund??
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Sean Maguire Micháel Martin is a liar! Go figure! :)
Sorcha Nic Cormaic He has already earmarked 10 billion as stated above, but it's not gone yet

Mykidstime Lorraine asks Are you aware of the implications come next September, due to the cap on SNA posts. Children with associated behavioural difficulties will no longer be provided with support unless a school can prove AFTERschool starts that a child poses a risk to themselves and others. Does that not leave our national schools open to litigation from parents and staff if injuries arise because of this NCSE/DOE decision?
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Ber O'Connell So where do SF stand on the issue of SNA's?
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic Well aware of the problems regarding SNA posts. I am a resource teacher in St Olaf's N.S. and work with children with SEN. Our school are due to lose an SNA post despite the fact that we have 2 junior infants coming in with SEN who have not... and probably will not be sanctioned by September. Sinn Féin's stance on this is that we protect frontline services in Education and Health whereby these posts will not be lost. There is no reason for it, funding can be made available through the capping of salaries at the highest levels of Public Sector to 100,000 (I know,, you're thinking a ridiculous amount of money but there are huge salaries at the higher levels and our policy if implemented saves an incredible 450 million euro, more than enough to protect frontline services such as SNAs)See more
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Snpa Pro If sinn Fein were part of a coalition government, would you seek and make every effort to reverse the NCSE Circular 8/02/11 outling the changes to supports and cut off date of 18th March which leaves insufficient time for assessment reports to be sent to for SENOs and children with no school place for september?
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Eimer Lovett Excellent question Snpa Pro. This really needs to be reviewed.
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Special Needs Parents Association The Association has sent the details to all sitting TD's and released a Press Statement to the media yesterday to highlight this issue and it's potentially disasterous consequences for children who are left with out supports.

Ber O'Connell Would like to hear Sinn Fein's answer to Lorraine dempsy's question from last night if u can repost that question please
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Mykidstime Hi Ber, we'll try to find that question and repost
Ber O'Connell Thanks, it's pretty easy to find from last night, she worded it very well and I don't want to steal her post but I really want to hear Where SF stand on this
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Mykidstime We've posted that up again :)
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Mykidstime Mandie asked, What is your policy about providing secular education. Also, how are you going to ensure that all faiths and none are welcomed as teachers ie creating a multi- denominational teacher training facility?
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic Regarding the separation of church and state for me the issue boils down to democratic contol. Sinn Féin stongly advocate a full separation of church and state. I'm a primary teacher working in a catholic school, there are few other options... out there. The way our education system is managed needs to be totally reformed. I do not agree with a system,whereby bishops and others are so-called patrons of schools which are funded by the State. We don not deny the parents of Catholic children the right to send their children to a catholic school, that should be an opption for them but in this country it is still the case that many parents have their children baptized primarily to ensure that they can get into local schools. That is a disgrace and highlights the need to complete the separation of Church and State. This must be complete in the 26 counties as it is in the 6 counties where Sinn Féin are in GovernmentSee more
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Eimer Lovett As a teacher myself I would strongly disagree with your statement that children have to be baptised to get into their local schools. ~Children are not turned away from schools because of their faith and it is wrong to claim that they are.
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Debra Crawley Doyle Would you agree that children are baptised to 'fit in' in school though?
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Debra Crawley Doyle Some, of course, not all lol
Eimer Lovett It is completely up to the parents of each child if they want to baptise their child or not. It is however wrong to say they have to be baptised in order to attend the local school.
Sorcha Nic Cormaic Eimer I didn't say they have to, I know of some parents who do it to ensure their place. They can't be refused but parents worry that if there isn't enough space in the school (and our school places fill up quickly) that their children may be given preferential treatment if they are baptized, a totally unfair, and discriminatory system. Not to mention illegal. But that doesnt stop parents being concerned
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Eimer Lovett Just because parents are concerned it doesn't mean that it is the case in schools. Places in a school are given due to catchment areas and not due to religion. As you said it would be illegal to discriminate and if it was happening as you suggest then surely there would be many high court hearings about it.
Michelle Rudden but even those of us who decide not to baptise our children have to send them to a school where the ethos and religious education is Catholic or protestant. In lots and lots of locations there is no other option than a Christian school.
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Eimer Lovett Michelle I agree there should be more options for parents what i didn't agree with was that chlidren couldn't get into local schools unless their child was babtised.
Michelle Rudden ok fair enough, I'm proof of that anywaybecause my child had no bother getting a place.I also didn't mean to give Catholics a capital letter and Protestants a lower case letter before I start an online jihad here lol!
Sean Maguire Sorry Eimer it happens! Rightly or wrongly it is a fact of life especially at rural schools! They deny this of course; but it has been said directly to me, so I know it to be true!
You can't get past the school board which is full of nepiti...sm and bigotry in many cases let alone get to a high court!
Not even with abuse cases....and that's another story!
Sean Maguire Reality is not always how things should be unfortunately

Mykidstime Rachel says I'd like to ask Sorcha:What is your partys stance on GM foods, fluoride, aspartame and the labeling of them?
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic Sinn Féin feels that although the EU has taken action on GM, we have stated that it is inadequate and that far more needs to be done before this country with its potential for high quality food production decides to open itself up to GM. The facts, as they stand at present, are:

• There is no scientific evidence regarding the safety of GM food
• GM crops do not increase agricultural productivity
• It is therefore not the solution to world hunger which exists amid food surpluses
• Multi-national corporations are attempting to control the entire food system by patenting GM seed.

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Sorcha Nic Cormaic My semi colons don't seem to be working, sorry for the jibberish in the middle there.
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic I couldn't tell you for certain about our stance on the labeling of flouride and aspartame but we have called on the government to open up the debate on the inclusion of flouride in our water system which many people are unaware of, and many others do not want.
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Sorcha Nic Cormaic Anything I can't answer tonight Rachel I will try get back to you on. As you can imagine it is difficult to know policy on every issue.
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Rachel Maguire thanks for that Sorcha, it's one of those issues thats forced on us by people/corporations with other agendas and done in a very cloak and dagger way. As with a lot of problems at the moment a open book approach (dare I say honest?!), would be a better way forward!
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Bridgette Keane If you were to be elected as a TD will you resign from your Teaching Post or take a career break.
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Mykidstime Sorcha answered: We do not agree with teachers keeping their posts, I have given a committment to my party that if I am elected I will resign my post. Signed sealed and delivered.