Pressure group bombards Kenny with postcards
NEW pressure group Ireland Stand Up was set up by a young Dublin mother shortly after the closure of Ireland's Vatican embassy was announced.
The unnamed woman started ringing her friends and they quickly agreed to start a public campaign to get the decision reversed.
Early recruits included web designers and graphic artists, who helped to set up the group's website. The group organised the printing of 15,000 postcards, which were sent to Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
The group's public voice is Mary Fitzgibbon, a mother of four, who is also a lecturer in nursing and health care studies at the Institute of Technology in Tralee.
She ran unsuccessfully as an Independent candidate in the Kerry North-West Limerick constituency in the last general election, getting just over 1.5pc of the votes.
She said hundreds of people were now actively involved in the new group -- and support was also pouring in from the Irish diaspora as well as people at home.
The group has a policy of taking a non-confrontational approach, believing that any public abuse of politicians would run contrary to its values. It also says it is composed entirely of lay members -- and has no connection with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.
It is currently in the midst of its second postcard campaign -- with another 15,000 postcards on their way to Mr Kenny.
The group has been asking for a meeting with him since last December -- but so far its request has not been granted.
Ireland Stand Up is also requesting a meeting with the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs committee to highlight its case.
- Michael Brennan
Irish Independent
