independent

Saturday 25 May 2013

Deirdre Conroy: What would X Case woman make of hearings? 

I WAS expecting twins in 2002. It went horribly wrong. I took a case against Ireland to the European Court of Human Rights, because I was forced to leave the country to have an early delivery of one dead and one fatally abnormal foetus. I didn't want any other Irish woman to endure that harrowing experience. And it never seems to go away. We are here again, front page news, TV panel discussions, proposed legislation, an Oireachtas hearing. A woman dead.

 
Donal Walsh during his appearance on RTE's Saturday Night SHow with Brendan O'Connoe. Picture courtesy RTE

Brendan O'Connor: He took what life he had and made it matter 

When I heard Donal Walsh had died, I couldn't help thinking of Spike Milligan's line: I told you I was sick. For those of us who didn't know Donal, who didn't live with his illness and see its progress, there was a strange sense of surprise that he had really died, that his young life was actually snuffed out in the end. Obviously everyone knew Donal was dying. His imminent death was central to the life-affirming message he brought to the nation. But somehow, when the inevitable came, it was a shock. I suppose this young man, whom none of us really knew but we all felt we knew, didn't seem like the type to die.

 

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