The Sunday Times reports today that the government has seen fit to appoint a Catholic conservative to the Oireachtas committee which has been set up to discuss the fall-out of the Lisbon treaty.

The paper reports that Senator Rónán Mullen has been appointed to the body, upon the invitation of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin. Seemingly, Mullen has not been appointed simply due to the fact that he is a member of the houses of parliament, but because “[b]oth Fianna Fail and Fine Gael favour his inclusion because Mullen can speak for conservative Catholics, who are said to have opposed the Lisbon treaty in June”.

I’m sorry, what?!

This is Fianna Fail and Fine Gael who resoundly failed in their attempts to present any kind of a convincing campaign to voters, and who were comprehensively out-manoeuvred by questionable, and un-representative entities, who introduced to the electorate irrelevant issues as part of their scare tactics.

[Disclosure: I personally had my own serious reservations against provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, but if found the "No" campaign in this country entirely irrelevant to its contents.]

This is Rónán Mullen who was formerly communications officer for the Archdiocese of Dublin; who approves of Opus Dei’s “intellectual engagement with their faith”; who connects himself with the Pro-Life Campaign and the Iona Institute; who, not content with railing against equality for same-sex couples, has recently rounded upon straight couples who are cohabiting and unmarried (aka “living in sin”). [No link to his article, I'm afraid, as Mullen's anti-Irish overloards don't see fit to publish their Irish edition online.] He is opposed the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v Wade. And in his latest opinion piece on Europe, he has argued against the EU’s “secularist trend” (huh?) which “inhibits freedom of conscience” (are we living in parallel dimensions?).

According to the Times, Mullen will propose measures to ensure that Irish policy on “sensitive social issues” will not be overridden by the European courts. The paper references stem-cell research, but as we can see from the above, his idea of “senstivie social issues” has a far broader reach than that.

And just what, exactly, do these issues have to do with the Lisbon Treaty? Feck all.

What next? Will we be ensuring our national legislation is Shariah law-compliant? Shall we consult Ireland’s Rabbis, too, to ensure that there is nothing contrary to the Torah (Leviticus, anyone?) Clearly the ideas of the Enlightenment – about, oh, three centuries old now – have bypassed our little island.

Update:
The European Commission in Dublin is hosting the first of a series of debates tomorrow, entitled: “Ireland in Europe – A Loss of Christian Memory?” And surprise, surprise, but Mullen and his Iona Institute buddy, David Quinn, are on the discussion panel. More info here.

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