Fiddle music and cheers of Slainte! will be ringing out from pubs across America as we celebrate one of Christendom’s greatest saints, the former slave who transformed an entire island nation via the Gospel. However, the Ireland of today looks a bit more like the ancient pagan culture that it was before St. Patrick set foot on the Emerald Isle. What was once the epicenter of Christendom in Europe, home to some of the most famous and stalwart monasteries of the medieval period, is now sold out to radical gender and abortion ideologies. But by correcting course here in America by fighting for truth, as Concerned Women for America does every day, we can help shine a light in Ireland and across the globe as well.
Take, for example, the tragic acceptance of abortion in the Republic of Ireland. In 2018, the Irish people voted to repeal the nation’s 8th Amendment. The Amendment, passed in 1983, granted “the equal right to life of the pregnant woman and the unborn.” Prior to the repeal, fewer than 3,000 women travelled to England annually to obtain an abortion. Now, that number has skyrocketed to nearly 10,000 abortions performed within Ireland’s borders per year. Pro-life advocates have tried to pass even the most basic, humane protections, such as pain relief for babies in late-term abortions, but all of those efforts have been voted down.
Every year, a group of pro-family and pro-life Irish politicians and advocates come to D.C. to meet with American organizations like CWA. They look to America as a nation with a strong tradition of associations, with a track record of mobilizing grassroots to effect change. They come to us looking both for ideas on what has worked to advance the cause of life in America, but also for encouragement and help. They understand that when America leads on an issue, the rest of the world, including Ireland, is likely to follow.
At this year’s meeting, the Irish representatives were more optimistic than they have been in years past. Even as the Irish government considers removing the 3-day required waiting period, one of the last remaining safeguards protecting the unborn in Ireland, the pro-life advocates are encouraged about the change of power in America. They see the new government here as an opportunity for American leaders to motivate Ireland to defend mothers and babies.
Life is not the only battleground issue in Ireland; the nation has also adopted the most radical version of gender ideology. In 2015, the government passed a law that allowed individuals to change their licenses and birth records to reflect whichever sex identification they chose, without assessment or medical examination. Since then, pro-transgender policies have been adopted at nearly every level of Irish society. As an American Irish Dancer, I can prove that what is happening in Ireland is affecting not only the Irish. While both the federal government and state governments here in the U.S. act to ban men from women’s sports, as the public overwhelming supports keeping women’s sports female, not all private sports associations, including Irish Dance, are playing along.
For the past several years, there has been a growing number of trans-identifying dancers competing in the sex category that they identify with and not the one aligned with their actual sex. Most notably is a young boy, in my own region, who has won first place at the past few Southern Regional competitions, robbing girls in his category of a chance to qualify and compete at national and world competitions.
Because CLRG, the governing body for Irish Dance, is headquartered in Dublin and not the U.S., the new laws and executive order offer no relief to American female Irish dancers. When CLRG took up the matter of whether they should change their policy regarding transgender dancer at a meeting last year, the cowardly powers-that-be voted to include radical gender ideology as part of the official rules of Irish Dance, thanks to the current political situation in Ireland.
However, like the life issue, the changing winds in America regarding gender ideology may soon have an effect in Ireland. In the summer of 2024, the trans-agenda hit its first road block in Ireland. The legislature attempted to pass a bill that would have criminalized speech critical of “gender identities,” including memes and online content against anyone on “account of their protected characteristics.” Had it passed, this would have been the most radical hate speech law in Europe. But after receiving backlash both in Ireland and from critics abroad, particularly the U.S., the “hate speech” provision of the bill was dropped. A small victory, but a step in the right direction, nonetheless.
The takeaway is not that it is America’s duty to fix Ireland. However, it is our duty as Christians to stand unwaveringly for truth. As we lead America to correct course on the cultural issues within our country, that gives our brothers and sisters in other nations, like Ireland, the motivation and encouragement to be faithful warriors within their own communities.