Скачать или смотреть 1982 Fine Gael Ard Fheis feat. Alice Glenn, Jim Mitchell (Pro-Life Amendment)

Report on the '82 FG Ard Fheis from the RDS for Today Tonight, 17 October 1982. This segment deals with the debate on the Party's support of the proposed Pro-Life Amendment. Speakers (in order of appearance) are Garret FitzGerald, Barbara Cahalane, Alice Glenn, and Jim Mitchell.

'The Ard Fheis was marked by a brilliantly sardonic speech from Alice Glenn, TD for Dublin Central, during which live television coverage of such events really proved its value. As Mrs. Glenn congratulated Dr. Fitzgerald on having been the first to commit his party to the Amendment, and accused the framers of the South Dublin motion of trying to undermine his leadership, viewers were able to watch his reaction to her words. Dr. Fitzgerald's face, as his eyes swivelled from left to right and back again, was that of a schoolboy trying hard to disguise his fear that his teacher -- and the whole class -- may suspect him of concealing bubble gum in his desk. As Olivia O'Leary wrote in her Dáil sketch in the Irish Times, Alice knows there are ways to make a party leader hop like a hen on a hot griddle. Commenting further on this episode, Ms. O'Leary said that standing up to be counted - like both Alice Glenn and the framers of the anti-amendment motion had done - was the only alternative to gombeen politics. "It's a vast improvement on closing your eyes and trusting in Garrett," she concluded.' - Nick Lowry, 'Garret's U-Turn', in Doris Manly et al., The Facilitators (Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin: Brandsma Books, [1986]), pp. 142-51 (p. 146)