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Catherine McGinty ✏ writing in Derry News.

‘Most egregious use of data I have seen in my entire clinical life’ - former WHSCT Consultant

The veracity of Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT) claims regarding outcomes for patients in Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital requiring emergency general surgery (EGS) is being challenged.

There are also concerns about the level of over-inference or optimism the WHSCT attaches to outcome measures.

The data relates to patient outcomes following the centralisation of EGS provision in Altnagelvin.

Speaking to The Derry News, London-based statistician Paul Bassett said there was “a lot of uncertainty around the Trust’s figures”.

Mr Bassett specialises in the application of statistics in medical research and clinical trials.

A former WHSCT Consultant described the Trust’s claims as the “most egregious use of data I have seen in my entire clinical life”.

While an independent clinical professional said it was a “poorly thought through use of metrics”.

They added:

The outcome (mortality) itself is poor and there is a lack of methodological clarity about how the patients were counted at a basic level. Small changes between admission groups from new pathways of care could have a big effect on these data.
There are other measures much more valuable to measuring the quality of emergency surgical care at individual patient level.
It is easy to come up with these if you look at the most recent reports about pancreatitis, bowel obstruction and gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, from the National Confidential Enquiry [Into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD)]. Why isn’t there a bigger focus on taking processive care measures from these reports?
It is disappointing that there are highly paid professionals not doing adequate due diligence on using information. Especially when the initial consultation seemed to involve significant missteps - said the clinical professional.

Processive care measures are the specific steps or activities carried out to deliver patient care. These are potentially more important than weak (statistically uncertain) indicators of mortality outcomes.

The WHSCT “temporarily” suspended EGS provision at Enniskillen’s South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) in December 2022.

Altnagelvin is currently providing EGS for local patients, in addition to patients who have had to travel from Fermanagh and Tyrone to Derry because, three and a half years later, the SWAH EGS suspension remains in place.

Jimmy Hamill from the Fermanagh-based Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) campaign said the disparities in the WHSCT’s data first emerged at a meeting of the Assembly Health Committee.

On March 13, 2025, the Committee held a session titled ‘Review of Emergency General Surgery at the South West Acute Hospital: Department of Health; Western Health and Social Care Trust’.

Appearing before the Committee were, Dr Tomas Adell (Head of Elective Care, Department of Health); Mr Mark Gillespie (Director of Surgery, Paediatrics and Women's Health, WHSCT); and Dr Brendan Lavery (Medical Director, WHSCT).

Chairman, Philip McGuigan (Sinn Féin) voiced concern about “double emergency department (ED) waits”.

He said: 

It is of major concern that people are waiting in EDs twice [in SWAH and in Altnagelvin], before travel and after travel.
How are you getting on with the [RQIA] recommendation on increasing the number of ambulances? 

According to the Hansard record of the meeting, Dr Lavery replied that patient outcomes were “actually better”.

He added: 

We use a company called CHKS [Caspe Healthcare Knowledge Systems] which analyses the admissions across every trust in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. CHKS looks at every admission - thousands of admissions - and does a statistical analysis of age, sex, comorbidities and the diagnosis that the patient was admitted with using 250 categories of diagnoses. CHKS uses all that data to generate a risk-adjusted mortality index (RAMI).
At the time of the temporary suspension, the figure for the South West Acute was 110, and the figure for Altnagelvin was 85.
We got the figures in July or August last year [2024]. Effectively, the RAMI scores for Altnagelvin have continued to fall - to the extent that, if you extrapolate the data to look at mortality rates, you find that, due to the change that we have made, every 40 days, one patient survives who would not have survived.

Later in the session Dr Lavery said: 

The Public Health Agency (PHA) has independently reviewed the information. There is no adverse outcome for patients who live in that area.

"SOAS was immediately dubious about the WHSCT’s RAMI claims,” said Mr Hamil.

He added: 

We subsequently discovered that, writing to the Trust’s Medical Director on October 3, 2024, Joanne Mc Clean, the Director of Public Health, described the WHSCT’s data as needing ‘some more work. 

The Derry News has seen a copy of the confidential email which SOAS obtained under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the PHA.

In it, Ms McClean wrote:

While you could say … there is no evidence of an increase in in-hospital mortality following the service change … I don’t think you could go beyond that without some more work.

She added: 

The biggest issue is that the absolute number of deaths per month is very small and subject to significant month to month variation … This means that the RAMI figures calculated are likely to have wide confidence intervals.

A ‘confidence interval’ is the statistical range which tells where a true population value is likely to fall.

Mr Hamill continued: 

SOAS was also aware that in December 2018 CHKS published its ‘Hospital mortality measures’ guidance which stated: ‘Indicators that count events such as deaths suffer from huge uncertainty.

That document said:

To be confident of a rate (to within 10 percentage points) approximately 1,000 deaths must be included in the dataset.
Many smaller hospital trusts have fewer than this number of deaths in a whole year, and analysis of a smaller subgroup of deaths (a specific condition, for example) would require proportionately more years of data before an acceptable degree of confidence about the underlying rate can be reached.

The former WHSCT Consultant told The Derry News, there was no way the Trust had this amount of deaths.

They added:

When we go to scientific meetings, whenever data is presented, there are always confidence intervals, and when you see confidence intervals as wide as they are in the Trust’s data, you can have no confidence. You cannot draw any conclusions from the data.
Speaking to the Assembly Health Committee, the Trust’s Medical Director just took the numerical change and said this is an improvement but with the confidence intervals, you cannot say that. It could have improved. It could have disimproved. We have no idea.
The PHA told the Trust not to use the data but it went ahead and used it. It is the wrong analysis.
The claim that for every 40 days one life is saved is outrageous because the Medical Director has derived that data from the RAMI. He looked at the reduction in mortality and he extrapolated it to the number of deaths. He said the number of deaths is now is reduced by X every 40 days.
“It is all complete nonsense. The whole methodology is flawed. It is the most egregious use of data I have seen in my entire clinical life.

Mr Hamill said SOAS realised rigorous interrogation of the Trust’s RAMI data was essential. He explained:

We therefore commissioned a ‘Statistical evaluation of data on the change in Emergency Surgery provision in Western Health and Social Care Trust’ (November 19, 2025) - an analysis of the Trust’s RAMI data by Paul Bassett (Statsconsultancy Ltd).

Mr Bassett subsequently told The Derry News: 

Because of the nature of the hospital and the fact mortality is quite an unusual occurrence, there is a lot of uncertainty around the [WHSCT] figures.
It is hard to say with any certainty that things have gotten better or worse because the numbers are quite small. If there have been some changes, which they are claiming, there is no statistical justification that those differences are genuine ones and not just a chance variation over time.
There is certainly no evidence to suggest it is what we normally call a statistically significant change, in other words that the difference is unlikely to be due to chance and as a result is likely to be a genuine effect.
Although there have been some slight improvements, the uncertainty around the estimates is such that it is highly likely that those are just due to chance.
There is no definitive conclusion that those are genuine improvements in the performance as a result of the centralising of ESG provision in Altnagelvin Hospital.

Essentially, the WHSCT’s has been criticised for using analytic approaches that have significant uncertainty but attach strong inference without any degree of statistical skepticism or triangulation with other critical metrics of process.

This has been described as “a very poor example of medical leadership and strategic planning for change of this magnitude”.

On Monday (July 6, 2026) WHSCT issued a press release titled, ‘Western Trust highlights independent evidence of safer Emergency General Surgery pathways following inaccurate public claims’.

It has also established an Emergency General Surgery Information Hub.

The Trust said:

Independent evidence has confirmed continued improvements in Emergency General Surgery patient pathways across the Western Trust, with both the RQIA Inspection Report and the independent CHKS review highlighting better patient outcomes, improved patient flow and enhanced patient safety.
The full Trust statement is available.

 ⏩Catherine McGinty is a journalist covering the North West.

'Grave Doubts On Validity Of Western Trust Data'

Anthony McIntyre ⚽Jay didn't make this one.


Being a touch under the weather on this occasion was a cloud with a silver lining. He was spared the misery of another miserable performance. We were denied his prediction.

At the game's end I came away feeling that while Jay would get better there was little prospect of that happening for the Drogs. Then against the odds they went up to Oriel Park the following week and took all three points from their Dundalk rivals, a number of places above them in the league table. There were more than me amazed by that result. Inconsistency, while it worked out at Oriel, has been the bane of this struggling Drogheda side. 

Upon arrival I shook hands with Tony the tireless steward. It was coming up to the first anniversary of his wife's passing so I guess his mind was on other things, as well as the game at hand. 

Myself and Paddy settled into our seats just to realise that the sun was out once again to torment out view of the game. Maybe it thought it was doing us a favour, being the only thing to brighten up Sullivan And Lambe Park, but to me it is a lazy bollix. Does nothing all week and then comes out on a Friday night when nobody on our side of the ground wants it. Like the previous game, we were back to shielding our eyes from its rays through holding our phones above us. On this occasion I didn't even have the numbing compensatory balm of a double Glenfiddich. 

In the 5th minute Thomas Oluwa failed to make the most of a Brandon Kavanagh cross, putting his attempt on goal wide of the post. Minutes later Oluwa turned provider, allowing Leo Burney to head goalward from close range only to see his effort blocked. As if the sun was not doing a good enough job at annoying us, the stars seemed to be aligned against us as well. The two misses in the space of a minute were a harbinger of a missed opportunity to come.

Bohs defend in numbers especially from free kicks and corners which forces their opponents to rely on open play. The Drogs have more success from set pieces than any other side in the league while seeming unable to take advantage of the service provided by Brandon Kavanagh. Both avenues to goal closed off, it portended to be a difficult night.

It wasn't long before that moment of a fate foretold in the 5th minute arrived. Mark Doyle scoring at the wrong end of the pitch to put the visitors in front. Despite some attempts on the Bohemian goal the Claret and Blue failed to pull level, and went in at half time trailing by that solitary own goal. 

When Luke Dennison saved from Dawson Devoy in the 57th minute there was a hope that the Drogs had stabilised and could go on to salvage something from the game The Bohs seemed to be apprehensive about holding their lead and committed to some robust tackling to maintain the status quo, leading to a yellow card for Harry Vaughan on the hour. This saw the Bohs man replaced a minute later. 


In the 74th minute Ryan Brennan joined Vaughan when his name went into the book for a foul. The Drogheda captain had been putting himself about the park a bit, and it seemed inevitable that he would come to the ref's attention before the game's end.

As the contest entered its dusk stage an old Drogs favourite took to the field only this time he was turning out in the colours of the Bohs. Within two minutes the switch showed promise when Douglas James Taylor forced a Luke Dennison save. Only seconds passed before success struck for the English forward, placing his shot to the right of Dennison. Bohemians had doubled their lead.

Ten minutes later the former Drogs favourite could also have doubled his tally when a penalty was awarded against Leo Burney. Unfortunately for him he placed his shot over the bar and to safety for the Drogs although it would have no bearing on the outcome of the game. 

With time added on in either half when they trudged towards the dressing room both sets of players teams had been on the field for over 100 minutes. 

We left the ground acutely aware that Waterford - for whom the season had seemed a lost cause with relegation looking a foregone conclusion - were now breathing down the neck of Drogheda. A 2-4 win up at the Brandywell over Derry City was edging them closer to safety while pushing the Drogs ever closer to the precipice. 

If Drogheda are to play premiership soccer next season they need to do it on their own steam. The steady climb of a consistent Waterford has shown that reliance on other teams to fail is a precarious hope for an inconsistent Drogheda.

⏩Follow on Bluesky.

Drogs ⚽ Bohs ⚽ Sliding

Dr John Coulter ✍ As tens of thousands of Orange brethren, sisters, band members and the public celebrate the Battle of the Boyne today, the event should also be used as a springboard to launch a Shared Union offensive aimed at persuading the 26 Counties to rejoin the a new Union of the British Isles.

Much is being made by elements of the Pan Nationalist Front (PNF) as to when they will be in a feasible position to have a Border Poll. While that is unlikely in the foreseeable future, it has not stopped the PNF from launching various projects and ventures to spark debate on Irish unity and what, in their eyes, a united Ireland should look like.

Rather than Unionism playing the constant Ulster Says No to any such debates, the Protestant Unionist Loyalist (PUL) community should start its own project to promote a Shared Union by persuading the 26 Counties of Southern Ireland to ultimately rejoin a new Union of the British Isles.

Whilst at first reading this will ultimately be dismissed by nationalists and republicans as a ‘rejoin the British Empire’ stunt, given the broad global tensions, the Irish republic may soon need to rethink both its relations with the European Union and its supposed military neutrality.

But primarily, how should a Shared Union campaign move forward beyond the theoretical into the practical given that the Irish unity debate is still firmly bogged down in the theoretical, if not downright fantasy politics.

The practical outworking of the Shared Union project should not wait until any future - if ever - Border Poll is called. In fact, it is already underway, and it lies in the hands of the Loyal Orders and marching bands.

Saturday witnessed the traditional Rossnowlagh parade in County Donegal when the Southern border county Orange lodges are joined by many Northern Ireland Orange members and bands for the annual so-called ‘Donegal Dander’.

It is one of the showpieces of the Orange Order in particular and is a far cry from past scenes at Drumcree during confrontations between the Order and the security forces. There are no political speeches at Rossnowlagh; just a route of around a mile, followed by a religious service, plenty of ice cream and a wee walk along the Donegal coastline.

The traditional Rossnowlagh parade is always held on the Saturday prior to the Twelfth to allow Southern lodges and bands to march in the main 12 July demonstrations across Northern Ireland. As 12 July 2026 falls on a Sunday, only annual divine services and church parades will be held that day with the traditional demonstrations scheduled for Monday 13th.

The Rossnowlagh model of Orangeism could be a blueprint for venues, not just across Northern Ireland, but also for an increased number of Orange and Black parades in Southern Ireland.

Whilst the Order is strongest in the Southern border counties of Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan and Leitrim, the Rossnowlagh model could be used as an organisational springboard to launch more Loyal Order parades throughout the 26 Counties, especially deeper into Southern Ireland.

Republicans like to talk a lot about ‘persuading’ Unionists about the fantasy benefits of the mythical united Ireland. But the reality is that Southern Ireland may have to abandon its ‘republic’ status and be ‘persuaded’ that its future as a nation like Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England lies within a new Union of the British Isles.

Military neutrality will have to be binned with the increasing threat from Russia. During the Cold War, the Right-wing National Monday Club pressure group portrayed Southern Ireland as Britain’s Cuba.

History is now repeating itself and its only a matter of time before the Ukrainian conflict becomes a head on war between the West and Russia. In this new impending war, the island of Ireland will play a crucial geographical role.

The Irish Defence Forces have already acquired an impressive peace keeping record serving with the United Nations. But the time has come for Southern Ireland to stop playing the neutrality card and become a full member of NATO.

Politically, too, Southern Ireland needs to realise that it has milked the European Union cow to the maximum and it is only a matter of time before Eire is forced to become a substantial giver to EU coffers rather than a receiver.

Irexit must follow Brexit. If the so-called Celtic Tiger economy goes bust again, there will be no British millions to bail out Southern Ireland. Practically, the 26 Counties also needs to be part of a major power bloc politically in the event of Irexit.

That bloc will be the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), which represents some 50 plus national and regional parliaments and assemblies across the globe. It must be noted that Ireland was a founder member of the Empire Parliamentary Association - the forerunner of the CPA - in 1911 when all 32 Irish counties were an integral part of the British Empire.

As a Ballymena man myself, there is the old saying - money talks. The PNF can spoof all it likes politically about Irish unity, but the crucial financial bitter medicine which the 26 Counties must swallow - it can never afford to economically run all 32 counties.

Southern Ireland cannot make Irish unity financially viable, but the UK can make a new Union of the British Isles economically effective. Unionists must sell not only the benefits of remaining in the UK, but also the political, economic and military advantages of Southern Ireland becoming an integral part of the Union of the British Isles.

Over the coming days tens of thousands of folk will commemorate the Boyne victory at Orange demonstrations as well as the traditional Sham Fight at Scarva. That 17th century Williamite settlement heralded in the Glorious Revolution and the Protestant Ascendancy.

It is time for the UK to take back what is rightfully and historically our’s. It is time for the Dublin establishment to waken up and smell the poteen - Southern Ireland belongs in the Union.
 
Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Dr Coulter has been a journalist since 1978 and is currently a political commentator with GB News.

PUL Community Should Launch Shared Union Offensive!

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand And Thirty One

 

A Morning Thought @ 3204

Remembering Martin Hurson On The 45th Anniversary Of His Death On Hunger Strike In The H Blocks Of Long Kesh.


Martin Hurson🏴 45 🏴 Eternal Dreamless Sleep

Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig ★ Everyone is talking about a 'United Ireland '....except the Unionists, Loyalists and the English, of course.


Sinn Fein are becoming very vocal now about, a plan at least, for this 'United Ireland'. They are trying to appear to be attacking Mícheál Martin i Teach Laighean about it; in the form of Pádraig McLoughlin, sounding all historic and theatrical. Michelle O'Neill is even talking about it now, too.

There's a North/South push by Sinn Fein to get something moving....anything...anything at all will do !! What waffle they speak; and dangerous, misleading waffle at that.
 
Sinn Fein still thinks that the 'politics of waffle' and grandstanding will fool all of the people all of the time. It won't; and as Socialist Republicans we should continue to point out that 'the emperor has no clothes'.

The Sinn Fein 'Project Stormont' and 'Project Pacification', carefully fostered by English Imperialism, has ran into the sand, for Sinn Fein. After thirty years they are now seen for what they have always been, a puppet of imperialism and capitalism. Sinn Fein are desperate to get into any 'political lifeboat ' they can find.
 
Mary Lou is also suffering from memory loss ! What's new? She forgets about the 850 years of English occupation and colonialism in Ireland. She forgets about the genocidal famine of the 1840's. She forgets about the Unionist rule and English atrocities in the, still occupied, six counties. Her approach and that of Sinn Fein is, ignore all of that but look over here at this 'nice new shiny thing'...an undefined "United Ireland"...packaged and delivered by the powerful and wealthy ruling elites. It's the "cure" for all our economic and political ills, they will tell you.

Mary, Michelle and Pádraig, stop 'play acting'. You know, we know and anyone with any political 'cop on' knows that the United Ireland you speak loudly of, is a United Ireland within imperialist and capitalist rules. You will abide by the demands and dictates of English, EU and Yankee imperialism. In other words you will do as you're told.
 
It will be 'top down' power. It will not be a sovereign, liberated or people powered democratic Ireland. Inequality and exploitation, the basis of poverty, will prevail. The majority, the working class, the poor and working poor will still be second class citizens; if they are lucky.

You have and will continue to oppose a thirty two county Socialist Republic. You have and will forget about the sacrifice of IRA volunteers and their families, who fought, died and spent lifetimes as political prisoners, for that Socialist Republic. We, on the other hand, have not forgotten what we stand for, nor will we.

Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig 
is an independent councillor on Donegal County Council.

United Ireland! United Ireland!

Ukraine Solidarity Group ✊ A Digest of News from Ukrainian Sources ⚔ 6-July-2026.

In this week’s bulletin

⬤ Ukraine trade union statement on bombing,
⬤ Ukrainian participant on Global Sumud Flotilla.
⬤ Ukraine-Poland tension.
⬤ Russian torture & other war crimes.
⬤ Crimea abductions & secret detention.
⬤ Russia fuel crisis.

News from the territories occupied by Russia

Crimean Olha Tsyryk gets16-year sentence after blitzkrieg ‘trial’ for selfies and anti-Russian comments (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 3rd)

Crimean Tatar political prisoner returned to die in Russian captivity is in critical condition (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 3rd)

Occupied Crimea braces for a summer without fuel (The Insider, 3 July)

Faces of Resistance: The Story of Political Prisoner Iryna Horobtsova (Crimea Platform, July 3rd)

Crimea Platform Fifth International Forum in Kyiv (Crimea Platform, 2 July)

“I looked at the gas shortages and closed my cafe before I went broke”: Russian-occupied Crimea is bracing for a summer without fuel (The Insider, July 1st)

Weekly update on the situation in occupied Crimea (Crimea Platform, July 1st)

UN Committee against Racial Discrimination slams Russia’s persecution of three Crimean Tatar lawyers (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 1st)

Abducted 63-year-old Crimean sentenced to 19 years for support of Ukraine which Russia called ‘treason’ (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, June 30th)

Russia labels Crimean Solidarity, lawyers & journalists 'foreign agents' in new attempt to crush Crimean Tatar human rights movement (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, June 29th)

Russian attacks continue to claim civilians’ lives (Confed’n of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, 2 July)

News from Ukraine

Ukrainian parliament approves creating pantheon to commemorate national heroes (Kyiv Independent, July 1st)

Massive missile and drone attack on Kyiv kills 31 (Kyiv Independent, July 1st)

Progress of the war

Ukrainian forces strike Russian logistics and military infrastructure (ZN.UA, July 5th)

Ukraine nearly doubles number of successful strikes (Kyiv Independent, July 5th)

Ukrainian strike against St Petersburg oil infrastructure (Kyiv Independent July 4th)

Russia can no longer conduct a naval blockade of Ukraine (ZN.UA, July 5th)

Courts vs. ships: Ukraine trying to stop illegal wheat exports from Russian-occupied territories (The Insider, July 2nd)

War-related news from Russia

Russia’s mass missile attacks on Ukraine ‘must continue’ says Putin (Kyiv Independent July 4th)

39 hours in line: one driver’s road trip through Russia’s fuel crisis (Meduza, 3 July)

Russia rewrites its history books again, to flag up Trump’s “positive role” (Meduza, 3 July)

230,624 deaths: Russian losses count updated (Mediazona, 3 July)

Russia stages grotesque trial for second 29-year sentence against savagely tortured Ukrainian partisan (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 2nd)

Ukraine war sparks fears of an organised crime resurgence in Russia (The Conversation, July 2nd)

Farewell to windfall: Сompanies in most Russian industries are getting poorer (The Insider, July 1st)

Investment falling: long-term structural crisis in Russian economy (The Insider, 30 June)

Comment and analysis

Fourteen Thousand: The number everyone cites and almost no one checks, about the war between 2014 and 2022 (Red Mole, June 30th)

Memory war causes Ukraine-Poland tension (RAAM, 30 June)

Anti‑war coalition ignores Putin’s war on Ukraine (Anti-Capitalist Resistance, June 28th)

For an Anti-Imperialist Leftist movement. An interview with Andriy Movchan (Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa, June 24th)

Research of human rights abuses

Netherlands approves hosting of Special Tribunal on Russia’s aggression (Ukrainska Pravda, July 5th)

Damage from Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure has exceeded $45 billion (Tribunal for Putin, July 2nd)

Torture, civilian detainees and Russia’s accountability: ZMINA joined the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting in Vienna (Zmina, July 1st)

Abduction in Crimea after the full-scale invasion (Ukrainska Pravda, June 30th)

Prosecutor General’s Office has registered nearly 69, 000 Russian war crimes over the past year (Tribunal for Putin, June 29th)


🔴This bulletin is put together by labour movement activists in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance. More information at Ukraine Information Group.

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News From Ukraine 💣 Bulletin 203

Atheist Ireland 🖋 has written to the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, about a recent WRC ruling that has undermined freedom of expression in Ireland.


Ireland removed blasphemy from the Constitution in 2018. Public bodies should be careful not to recreate similar effects by allowing sanctions for offensive criticism of religion.

While this ruling is not technically a blasphemy law, its practical effect is similar. A person has been denied access to a service for life, because their criticism of religion was expressed in terms deemed offensive or unacceptable.

The central issue that we are raising is not whether the words used were offensive. It is whether a lifetime ban from a service, imposed after a person answered a question about religion in an informal conversation that he did not initiate, is a lawful, necessary, and proportionate restriction on freedom of expression.

In the case, the WRC rejected a challenge by a former seminarian against a yoga studio. The studio banned him for life after he responded to a question about Christmas by saying it was hocus pocus that celebrated the rape and abandonment of a child.

The WRC found that the man had established a prima facie case of religious discrimination against the Mayo yoga studio. However, it found that the studio’s owner and yoga teacher had successfully rebutted the inference of discrimination by arguing her decision was based on how he expressed his beliefs rather than what the beliefs were.

The WRC decision did not apply any proportionality test, weighing whether restrictions on this formulation of words are prescribed by law, pursue a legitimate aim, and are necessary in a democratic society. It did not try to balance the competing interests, nor did it take into account that he would not have expressed his views if he had not been asked to do so.

No doubt some people would be offended by the language he used when responding to a question. However, it is language that is consistent with the balance between freedom of expression and freedom of religion and belief. Such language might have been unlawful when we had a law against blasphemy, but not since we removed that law by referendum.

The WRC only took into account the formulation of the words used, and decided that it was not discrimination under the Equal Status Act to punish someone in those circumstances. This means that people can be discriminated against if a service provider does not like the formulation of the words used when asking for someone’s opinion on a particular subject in an informal setting. This completely undermines freedom of expression.

Overview of the case

The context was that, before the yoga class started, the teacher and her clients were informally discussing things as they usually did. She asked the man if he was all set for Christmas. He said it was hocus pocus, celebrating a religious cult which has its origins based on the rape of a child. She said the Church had a good moral code. He said look at the child abuse, the paedophilia, and Tuam. She said right, well, let’s get on with the yoga.

After the class, the teacher wrote to the client saying that his continued presence constituted a threat to her clients and her business operations. She said his behaviour was disruptive to the point of causing unease among other clients. Following further correspondence, she said he was banned for life from the studio. There was no evidence presented that any of the clients of the service had left the service because of his response.

Our concerns about the ruling

Clearly, as the WRC ruling says, nobody has the right to use “any formulation of language, in any setting, without consequence.” But this ruling ignores the key question of exactly how, in this case, the “manner by which he expressed his views” crossed the line into such consequences.

He was not promoting violence or discrimination. The owner and/or others simply did not like the formulation of words he used, in response to a question, in a conversation he did not even initiate.

On this basis, the WRC has endorsed banning a client for life from a service. Restricting freedom of expression in this manner is not reflected in any legislation. It undermines freedom of expression and all our international obligations.

Article 40.6.1 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression which can only be limited by the protection of public order or morality. There was no threat to either public order or morality in this yoga class.

The whole point of the right to freedom of expression is to permit the expression of controversial views that do not cross the legal line of the proportionality test. And this includes the right to express beliefs about religious or philosophical ideas that offend, shock, or disturb.

What the European Court has said

The European Court held in Handyside v UK 1976 that:

The Court’s supervisory functions oblige it to pay the utmost attention to the principles characterising a ‘democratic society’. Freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of such a society, one of the basic conditions for its progress and for the development of every man.
Subject to paragraph 2 of Article 10 (art. 10-2), it is applicable not only to ‘information’ or ‘ideas’ that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population.
Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no ‘democratic society’. This means, amongst other things, that every ‘formality’, ‘condition’, ‘restriction’ or ‘penalty’ imposed in this sphere must be proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued.
From another standpoint, whoever exercises his freedom of expression undertakes ‘duties and responsibilities’ the scope of which depends on his situation and the technical means he uses. The Court cannot overlook such a person’s ‘duties’ and ‘responsibilities’ when it enquires, as in this case, whether ‘restrictions’ or ‘penalties’ were conducive to the ‘protection of morals’ which made them ‘necessary’ in a ‘democratic society’.

What the Venice Commission has said

In 2008, the Venice Commission (European Commission for Democracy through law) on the relationship between Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Religion. It said:

43. Freedom of expression, guaranteed by Article 10 ECHR, constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society and one of the basic conditions for its progress and for each individual’s self-fulfilment. Subject to paragraph 2 of Article 10, it is applicable not only to ‘information’ or ‘ideas’ that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend shock or disturb.
44. A democracy should not fear debate, even on the most shocking or anti-democratic ideas. It is through open discussion that these ideas should be countered and the supremacy of democratic values be demonstrated. Mutual understanding and respect can only be achieved through open debate. Persuasion through open public debate, as opposed to ban or repression, is the most democratic means of preserving fundamental values.”

Conclusion

We are raising with the Minister for Justice that the Equal Status Acts, WRC procedures, and/or Departmental guidelines should be clarified to ensure that freedom of expression and freedom of religion and belief are properly protected when service providers respond to controversial or offensive views.

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Atheist Ireland Writes To Minister About WRC Ruling Undermining Freedom Of Expression

Right Wing Watch 👀 Written by Kyle Mantyla.


For the last several weeks, far-right Christian nationalist pastor Dale Partridge has been preaching on the Curse of Ham, a controversial theological theory long used to justify slavery and racism.

Originating in Genesis 9, the theory posits that black people were perpetually cursed by God to serve and be ruled by white people because Ham, one of the sons of Noah, looked upon his father when he was passed out drunk and naked in his tent.

Partridge claimed that "the African peoples . . .  and some of the people from India" are the modern-day descendants of Ham and that they have been assigned by God to be ruled over and dependent upon whites, Europeans, Asians, Jews, and Arabs, who are allegedly the descendants of Ham's brothers, Shem and Japheth.

Given that "God has sovereignly assigned different stations and trajectories to different peoples for his glory," Partridge declared that it is only proper for Africa to recolonized by "white Christians."

"The Japhethites have been blessed to be enlarged in both territory and Christian regeneration," Partridge preached. 

The Hamites have been assigned to a civilizational station of subordination and dependence. And the answer to this paradigm is not endless foreign money.

Continue @ RWW.

Dale Partridge Calls For The Return Of 'European Christian Colonization Of African Nations'

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand And Thirty

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