Abortion legislation 'not radical' - Kenny

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill "is important but it is not radical" and it will not lead to abortion on demand in Ireland.

He said it will legislate for a constitutional right that has existed in a completely unregulated way.

Given the sensitivity and complexity of the issue, the draft heads of the bill were referred to the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children and he commended the work of that committee.

The bill is underpinned by a number of important principles to provide legal clarity where there is a real and substantial risk to the life of a woman.

He said that the bill includes covering the existing constitutional rights only and will not create any new rights.

Medical termination of pregnancy can only be legally permitted where all of the doctors involved say it is the only treatment.

In case of medical emergency one doctor may make that decision. The doctor will have to certify their reason for their actions within 72 hours.

After outlining the details of the bill the Taoiseach addressed some of the concerns that have been raised.

He said that he is bound to comply with the constitution of the coutry so it has be legislated for.

He rejected the view that the government could not legislate in this area.

Minister for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton has appealed to the Government to accept "substantive amendments" to the bill.

Speaking as the Dáil resumed its debate on the legislation, Ms Creighton said she will vote with her conscience on the bill.

She said her personal view was that all she could do when making a decision on "life and death" is consult her conscience.

Ms Creighton criticised the inclusion of the suicide clause and said it was bizarre that the bill contained no provision for legal representation for the unborn in cases of suicidal intent.

She also urged amendments to clarify what term limits would apply to terminations.

It is expected that Ms Creighton will for now support the legislation on the second stage, but her position on the final passage of the legislation will be subject to any amendments that might be made.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said that when we first dealt with this issue in 1983, he said Article 43.3.3 was deeply flawed and he was vilified for doing so.

He said that many of the predictions he made came true.

He said this year is the 30th anniversary of article 43.3.3 and this debate is a lot like that debate.

Minister Shatter this bill will not liberalise abortion law and it is legislation that simply reflects the current law.

He said it is not a liberal law, it is highly restrictive and its central theme is about the right to life of women and the unborn.

In a clear reference to Ms Creighton's speech earlier, Shatter said that this legislation has nothing to do with China, the United States or any other State.

He said he regarded it as extraordinary that anyone could suggest a link between this bill and the one baby policy in China or the idea of designer babies.

Without naming MsCreighton, he referred to her speech where she said that abortions could be used out by parents to avoid having children with special needs as "hyperbole".

Minister Shatter said he recognises the profound value of protecting the unborn.

He said he is pro-life but that should not obscure the reality of the complexity of dealing with this issue.

Meanwhile, Dublin North East TD Terence Flanagan has confirmed that he will be voting against the proposed legislation.

He is the fourth Fine Gael TD to say they would not support the bill.

Billy Timmins, Brian Walsh and Peter Mathews have already confirmed their opposition.

Ó Cuív says bill would 'open the floodgates'

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said that supporting the bill is the "right thing to do" and his party will support it tomorrow.

He said everyone is aware of the significance of the bill and of its complexities.

Mr Gilmore said he is aware of the differing beliefs on this issue, but said the core purpose of the bill is the protection of the life of women and children.

Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív has said he believes the bill will "open the floodgates to widespread abortion".

He said that he cannot support the legislation and he will be voting against it at second stage.

Mr Ó Cuív said he believes that those who join him in doing so across party lines are making the right decision, although in many cases they will be punished for doing so by their parties.

He asked those who are pro-choice to respect the views of the minority and accept that they are making a stand from "a human rights perspective".

Fine Gael TD Mary Mitchell O'Connor said the bill requires deputies to have faith in women and that suspicion that women would claim to be suicidal to avail of terminations was doing a disservice.

Dublin North West TD Róisín Shortall called for a sunset clause on the on bill.

Speaking this afternoon, she called on Minister for Health James Reilly to accept amendments to strengthen the bill because as it stood, she said, it is unacceptable.

She called for an annual review to closely monitor its impact.

Ms Shortall said anything less than revisiting the constitutional provision would be an Irish solution to an Irish problem, which she said "doesn't provide a solution at all".

Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ó Fearghaíl said he would oppose the passage of the bill.

He paid tribute to Ms Creighton for having the "courage, conviction and compassion" on a matter, which he noted as being close to her heart.

Earlier, Independent TD Finian McGrath said while he had major concerns about the legislation, he supported the request for an open and free vote.

Mr McGrath said he would wait to see the amendments, but confirmed that he would be supporting the legislation and reiterated that all views should be supported.

Pro Life Campaign opinion poll

The Pro Life Campaign says an opinion poll it commissioned shows that a majority of voters is opposed to abortion as a response to a threat of suicide.

It also indicates that a large majority supports a free vote on related legislation currently before the Dáil.

The online survey of a nationally representative sample of almost a thousand adults was conducted for the Pro Life Campaign by Amárach Research.

It asked respondents to state their attitude to abortion "if it were clearly shown that (it) is not a suitable treatment for a pregnant woman with suicidal feelings".

Of those expressing an opinion, 60% say they would be unlikely to support abortion on such grounds as against 40% who would be likely to support it.

The poll also reveals that 78% of respondents support granting a free vote to TD's and Senators on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill versus 13% who say politicians should be required to vote with their parties.

Finally, there is slightly more than two-to-one support for prohibiting abortion when the pollsters draw a distinction between abortion and what the Pro Life Campaign calls "all necessary life-saving treatment for women".

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Man admits killing Melanie McCarthy-McNamara

A Dublin man has admitted killing 16-year-old Melanie McCarthy-McNamara in Dublin last year.

Keith Hall, 24, of Kilmartin Drive, Tallaght pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Ms McCarthy-McNamara in Tallaght on 8 February, 2012.

Ms McCarthy-McNamara was shot in the head while sitting in a car on Brookview Way.

Brendan Grehan SC prosecuting told the Central Criminal Court the plea was acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mr Justice Paul Carney directed the preparation of victim impact statements and remanded Hall in custody for sentencing on 31 July.

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19 firefighters killed in Arizona wildfire

Nineteen firefighters from an elite team in Arizona were killed while battling a fast-moving wildfire in the US state.

The fires have destroyed scores of homes and forced the evacuation of two small towns northwest of Phoenix, the state capital.

The tragedy is ranked as the greatest loss of life among firefighters from a single wildfire in the US in 80 years, since 29 men died battling the Griffith Park fire of 1933 in Los Angeles.

Art Morrison of the Arizona State Forestry Commission told CNN the firefighters, members of a specially trained "hot shot" team, lost their lives yesterday when they were overtaken by swiftly moving flames.

"It was a hand crew, a hot shot crew," he said.

"In normal circumstances, when you're digging fire lines, you make sure you have a good escape route, and you have a safety zone set up.

"Evidently, their safety zone wasn't big enough, and the fire just overtook them. By the time the other firefighters got in, they didn't survive," Mr Morrison said.

The crew was initially reported missing before word came from the US Wildland Fire Aviation service that the team had died in the blaze, which erupted on Friday near the small town of Yarnell about 128km northwest of Phoenix.

Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo called the tragedy "one of the worst wildfire disasters that's ever taken place".

He said he did not know the circumstances that led to the 19 deaths.

He said one member of the 20-man crew happened to be in a separate location and survived. There was no immediate information on his condition.

The blaze, stoked by strong, dry winds and a heatwave that has baked the region in triple-digit temperatures, has charred about 2,000 acres of tinder-dry chaparral and grasslands, fire officials said.

Local television news footage showed an unbroken line of flames stretching along a ridgeline, sending gray brown smoke billowing into the evening sky.

Authorities ordered the evacuation of Yarnell and the adjoining town of Peeples Valley, alerting residents through reverse 911 emergency calls to homes and sending sheriff's deputies door to door.

The two towns, which lie southwest of Prescott, Arizona, are home to roughly 1,000 people.

Steve Skurja, spokesman for Yavapai County Sheriff's Office, said at least 200 structures have been destroyed by the fire, most of them in Yarnell, a community consisting largely of retirees.

The Daily Courier Prescott newspaper said the dead were members of the Prescott Fire Department's Granite Mountain Hotshots team.

"This is as dark a day as I can remember," Governor Jan Brewer said in a statement.

"It may be days or longer before an investigation reveals how this tragedy occurred, but the essence we already know in our hearts: fighting fires is dangerous work."

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Kerry plays down reports of US spying

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said nearly all national governments, not just the United States, use "lots of activities" to safeguard their interests and security.

The EU has strongly demanded that the US explain a report in a German magazine that Washington is spying on the group, saying that, if true, the alleged surveillance was "shocking".

The Guardian newspaper has reported that the US had also targeted non-European allies including Japan, South Korea and India for spying.

Mr Kerry confirmed that EU High Representative Catherine Ashton had raised the issue with him in a meeting in Brunei but gave no further details of their exchange.

He said he had yet to see details of the newspaper allegations.

Der Spiegel reported on Saturday that the National Security Agency bugged EU offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks.

The magazine followed up yesterday with a report that the US agency taps half a billion phone calls, emails and text messages in Germany in a typical month, much more than any other European peer and similar to the data tapped in China or Iraq.

"I will say that every country in the world that is engaged in international affairs and national security undertakes lots of activities to protect its national security and all kinds of information contributes to that. All I know is that is not unusual for lots of nations," Mr Kerry told a news conference.

The German government said if reports of large-scale US spying on the European Union were confirmed, it would be unacceptable Cold War-style behaviour.

A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said if the claims were confirmed "we will clearly say that bugging friends is unacceptable".

Steffen Seibert said Germany wanted an EU-US free trade deal which would foster economic growth and job creation.

But he added: "Mutual trust is necessary in order to come to an agreement."

Call for EU-US trade talks to be put on hold

Some EU policymakers said talks on a free trade agreement between Washington and the EU should be put on hold until further clarification from the US.

EU Parliament Martin Schulz told French radio that the US had crossed a line.

"I was always sure that dictatorships, some authoritarian systems, tried to listen ... but that measures like that are now practiced by an ally, by a friend, that is shocking, in the case that it is true," Mr Schulz said in an interview with France 2.

Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell called on Washington and the US ambassador to the EU to explain why EU offices were allegedly bugged by the Washington administration.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Mitchell said that if the allegations were true, then the US would have an unfair advantage in negotiating a long-awaited EU-US trade deal.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said the allegations were disconcerting, but clarity was needed.

Speaking in Limerick, he said recent trade talks which he chaired between the EU and the US have huge potential for both continents, and he believed good strong negotiations were necessary, but they had to be done on a fair basis.

The chairperson of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee also warned that the allegations could dramatically change the relationship between the US and the EU.

Speaking on the same programme, MEP Elmar Brok with Germany's CDU Party said the allegations have shattered confidence in the negotiations for the trade deal.

Mr Brok said the US administration will have to win back the "credibility and confidence" of the EU following the allegations.

Ms Ashton said yesterday that US authorities were immediately contacted about the Der Spiegel magazine report.

Revelations about the US surveillance programme, which was made public by fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, have raised a furore in the US and abroad over the balance between privacy rights and national security.

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Increase in number of visitors to Ireland

New figures show that the number of visitors to Ireland increased by over 8% between March and May of this year, bringing the numbers to over 1,771,000.

This is an increase of 132,000 compared to the same time last year.

Trips by residents of North America to Ireland increased by 12.6%.

Visits by residents of European countries, other than Britain, increased by 9.6%.

Trips by residents of Britain increased by 5.6%, to 726,300.

Responding to the figures, Minister for Tourism Leo Varadkar said the Government initiative, The Gathering, is gaining momentum.

Tourism Ireland's Simon Gregory said The Gathering in addition to increased accessibility led to the increase in visitor numbers from North America.

However, he said such increases are still not being felt in rural areas.

Speaking on RTÉ's News At One, Mr Gregory said it is hoped continued growth in the major tourism centres such as Cork, Galway and Killarney will begin to filter through to the rural areas that are suffering.

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Deenihan disappointed over turf-cutting breaches

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan has said he is very disappointed and concerned at breaches of turf-cutting bans on raised bogs.

Turf was cut on four bogs with Special Area of Conservation status over the weekend.

Mr Deenihan said the development had financial and environmental implications for the country.

Speaking in Tralee, he said Ireland stood to be fined €9 million a year if the turf-cutting restrictions were not enforced.

The minister said it was worrying that gardaí were being obstructed at bogs and believed officers were doing their best to deal with the issue.

The EU is closely monitoring the situation, he said.

He pointed out that offers of financial compensation, alternative fuel supplies and relocation were being made to bog owners, in an effort to address their concerns.

The Turf Cutters and Contractors Association has claimed the Government is not serious about dealing with the problem.

It said a workable solutions could be found, if the will was there.

Chairperson Michael Fitzmaurice said agreement has not been reached with all owners at any of the disputed locations.

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Magdalene Survivors Together seeks UN forum

The Magdalene Survivors Together group has asked the United Nations to hold a one-day forum in which women who lived and worked in the laundries can tell their stories of alleged abuse in public for the first time.

The move is aimed at putting pressure on the Government to amend the terms of its compensation package, which was announced last week.

The group made the request on Friday, when it contacted the office of the chairman of the United Nations Committee against Torture (UNCAT), Felice Gaer.

Speaking to RTÉ, Steven O'Riordan of the Magdalene Survivors Together said that the group believed that the compensation on offer did not meet the women's demands for recognition of the alleged abuse and suffering which they claim to have endured in the laundries.

UNCAT chairman Felice Gaer told RTÉ that the committee has the facility to take evidence ahead of its next scheduled meeting in November when it would discuss Ireland's response to the Magdalene Laundries issue.

However, Sally Mulready, a councillor in London who works with Magdalene survivors in the UK and who is also a member of the Council of State, told RTÉ that she believed many of the women wished to accept the settlement on offer and to "get on with their lives".

She said it would be up to the women themselves if they wished to engage with the UN but she had never come across any of the women who expressed a desire to do so as a means of advancing the Magdalenes issue.

She expressed concern that if UNCAT agreed to hold this one-day forum it could cause anxiety and stress among the women who might believe that this would delay the process further, she said.

The Government last week published in full the recommendations of Mr Justice John Quirke, who was tasked with proposing an ex-gratia scheme and other supports to assist the women.

Around 600 women will be eligible to avail of lump sum payments of up to €100,000 based on the length of time they spent in the laundries.

Other supports include medical cards and other social welfare assistance.

Mr Justice Quirke declined to comment when contacted.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter last week said that by accepting the recommendations contained in Judge Quirke's report, the Government had "not only acknowledged the painful past experiences of the Magdalene women but are taking steps to address, in very real and practical ways, their present and future needs".

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Noonan warns of 'tough' Budget ahead

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has warned October's Budget will be tough, even if the Government decides to use all of the proceeds from the promissory note deal to reduce the level of cuts and tax increases.

Speaking on RTÉ's The Week in Politics, Mr Noonan said there were options as to whether the €1bn from the deal could be used.

The savings could reduce the total level of adjustments for next year from €3bn to €2bn.

He said this could mean fewer cutbacks and fewer tax increases.

Mr Noonan said the proceeds from the deal could be used to ease up on the correction process or it could be used to invest in infrastructure projects.

However, he said the ultimate target of reducing the deficit to 3% by the end of 2015 still had to be met.

Mr Noonan said he would make the decision on what to do in September.

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Former DPP warns against early banking inquiry

Former director of public prosecutions James Hamilton has said it would be "foolish" for the Government to proceed with an Oireachtas banking inquiry before criminal trials take place.

Speaking on RTÉ's This Week, Mr Hamilton said evidence produced in an Oireachtas inquiry could be used by those accused of criminal offences to claim they could not get a fair trial.

"The big difficulty, of course, is that if you do have an inquiry coming closely in advance of a trial, you will very much strengthen the argument of defendants that the atmosphere is such that they cannot receive a fair trial.

"In other words, the type of application which Mr Haughey successfully made to delay his own trial from taking place many years ago now.

"If we're talking now about trials taking place next year I think it would be very foolish to embark on a major inquiry before those trials take place.

"I think it would be much more to the point if steps were taken to do everything that can be done to expedite those trials taking place and then hold the inquiry."

Responding to the revelations during the week concerning the so-called Anglo tapes, he said these also posed a challenge for any trial.

"The more material of that sort there is the easier it becomes for a defence to make an argument."

Mr Hamilton said it was an incorrect view that Ireland lags behind other jurisdictions when it comes to dealing quickly with complex anti-corruption cases.

These cases take a long time in most jurisdictions and Ireland is no different to these countries, he said.

He said that one of the challenges in bringing charges before a jury of ordinary citizens is that the DPP must select charges which can be understood by jurors.

He said that this "presents a real challenge to the prosecutor" but he said that any change to the jury system which would allow for the use of expert or specially trained jurors would require a constitutional referendum.

"We have to live with the system we have at the moment," he said.

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US 'spied on EU offices, computer systems'

The United States has bugged European Union offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks, according to secret documents cited in a German magazine.

Der Spiegel quoted from a September 2010 "top secret" US National Security Agency (NSA) document that it said fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden had taken with him, and the weekly's journalists had seen in part.

The document outlines how the NSA bugged offices and spied on EU internal computer networks in Washington and at the UN, not only listening to conversations and phone calls but also gaining access to documents and emails.

The document explicitly called the EU a "target".

A spokesman for the Office of the US Director of National Intelligence had no comment on the Der Spiegel story.

Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, said that if the report was correct, it would have a "severe impact" on relations between the EU and the US.

"On behalf of the European Parliament, I demand full clarification and require further information speedily from the US authorities with regard to these allegations," he said in an emailed statement.

France has asked the United States to explain the reports, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said this afternoon.

"These acts, if confirmed, would be completely unacceptable," Mr Fabius said.

"We expect the American authorities to answer the legitimate concerns raised by these press revelations as quickly as possible."

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told Der Spiegel: "If these reports are true, it's disgusting.

"The US would be better off monitoring its secret services rather than its allies. We must get a guarantee from the very highest level now that this stops immediately."

Mr Snowden's disclosures in foreign media about US surveillance programmes have ignited a political furore in the US and abroad over the balance between privacy rights and national security.

According to Der Spiegel, the NSA also targeted telecommunications at the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, home to the European Council, the collective of EU national governments.

Without citing sources, the magazine reported that more than five years ago security officers at the EU had noticed several missed calls and traced them to NSA offices within the NATO compound in Brussels.

Each EU member state has rooms in Justus Lipsius with phone and internet connections, which ministers can use.

Mr Snowden, a US citizen, fled the United States to Hong Kong in May, a few weeks before the publication in the Guardian and the Washington Post of details he provided about secret US government surveillance of internet and phone traffic.

Mr Snowden, 30, has been holed up in a Moscow airport transit area since last weekend. The government of Ecuador is reviewing his request for asylum.

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