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'Times' slated over 'bastard' comment

Added on February 10, 2005


Thursday February 10th 2005


Columnist's remarks about unmarried mothers spark furious backlash

THE Irish Times found itself at the centre of a furious row yesterday over controversial references to unmarried mothers in the newspaper's An Irishman's Diary column.

Columnist Kevin Myers provoked the backlash by asking in Tuesday's edition how many girls "consciously embark upon a career of mothering bastards because it seems a good way of getting money and accommodation from the State?"

The newspaper and RTE were inundated with complaints. RTE Radio devoted all of Joe Duffy's 'Liveline' programme to the issue, with all but one caller critical of Mr Myers.

Critics included another Irish Times columnist, John Waters, who said it was "potentially a resigning issue" for editor Geraldine Kennedy.

In an article on the system of benefits to unmarried mothers, Mr Myers wrote that our welfare system was creating "benefits-addicted, fatherless families" who would be raised in a culture of personal and economic apathy.

His comments were sparked by remarks made by University of Limerick professor Ed Walsh in his 'Time to Take Stock' lecture at University College Cork last week. Dr Walsh suggested that the State should discourage the formation of lone-parent families.

Yesterday Dr Walsh described Mr Myers's comments as "most unhelpful" and said he wanted to disassociate himself "from that kind of language and debate". The issue was a sensitive one and all Mr Myers had done was to bring it to the level of irrationality and emotion.

The One Family organisation said the debate on the issue of one-parent families had "reached an all-time low" with Mr Myers's comments. Its director, Karen Kiernan, denounced the remarks as "journalistic thuggery".

David Begg, a member of the Irish Times Trust, said the language Mr Myers used was "quite wrong, quite shocking and inappropriate". The issue of single mothers was a fair enough subject to debate but Mr Myers had effectively closed down that debate now, Mr Begg told RTE radio.

John Waters told Eamon Dunphy on Newstalk 106: "I think this is potentially a resigning issue for the editor. Unless this is addressed adequately, today, then the editor should be removed in my view," he said.

Irish Times journalist Kitty Holland told RTE radio that, as someone who was born out of wedlock, she remembered the shame and terror associated with the word "bastard" and her terror of people finding out that her parents were not married.

There should be an apology, especially since the article was printed in an edition which included a supplement that was sent to primary schools around the country, she said.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, warned of the damage "hate words" could inflict on people. Speaking on RTE1's 'The Big Bite', he said such use of language did not respect the dignity of anybody and he was surprised it had come "from a source like that".

"Lone parents are a very significant group," said Dr Martin. "They go through a huge amount of suffering by wanting to be genuinely good parents and give their children as much as any other child can get and even better if they could.

"Lone parents love their children - they work twice as hard as others."

Fergus Black

? Irish Independent

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