kerry madness

Yet again the deep rooted sexist culture of Ireland raised its ugly head last week when 50 men including the parish priest filed up in Listowel Court Room to shake the hand of a man who was about to be sentenced for indecent assault. He was subsequently sentenced to 7 years imprisonment.

What kind of society allows such vile mysogony? What kind of twisted mentality allows a man to clap another man on the back for raping a woman? Are the supporters of this convicted rapist married themselves? Are they fathers to young women? What must their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters think of their behaviour?

While I am proud to be Irish I am certainly not proud to be part of a nation that so openly encourages and sympathises with such behaviour. In Listowel last week, the victim became the victimised.

When will such open abuse of women and their rights be confronted in Ireland? With only 13% of us in positions of power I am pesimistic about such values being confronted and culled anytime soon. The only way to stamp out such deep rooted abuse is for women to actively collaborate, to stand up, to be counted, To say NO this wont do. It won't do at all. We need more women representing our rights within the corridors of power so that this kind of behaviour will become a thing of the past.