Cairde runs  the annual series of workshops for women’s group in the Islamic Cultural Centre Ireland  in Clonskeagh in Dublin. Workshops on Health & Health Services in Ireland  are run at the Centre for women only and have been greatly appreciated by all attendees in the past.

Next Ethnic Minority Health Forum is scheduled for Wednesday, 12^th May 2010, 11.00am to 12.30pm in our office at 19 Belvedere Place Dublin 1. Everyone is welcome.

Agenda

11.00 – 11.10     Registration

11.10 – 11.20     Welcome & briefing on last Forum meeting (Jun Yu Wang, Cairde)

11.20 – 11.50

• Briefing on findings of Ethnic Minority Communities consultation
• Discussion of general health issues that Ethnic Minority Communities are experiencing in Ireland

11: 50 – 12:20

• Presentation of “access to medical card and GP Visit Card”
• Discussion of access to medical card and GP Visit Card relevant to ethnic minority communities in Ireland

12.20 – 12.30    AOB

12.30 —             Lunch

For more information contact Jun Yu Wang: email hidden; JavaScript is required, ph.: 01 8552111.

On Wednesday 21st April, 2010 Senator Ivana Bacik will be introducing a Bill to prohibit Female Genital Mutilation in the Seanad during the Labour Party’s private members’ time.

In her response to the Labour bill, last night the Minister for Health and Children indicated that she is working on the development of a legal framework for the explicit prohibition of the practice of Female Genital Mutilation, and has indicated that the Labour bill may be read a second time in 12 months time.

Senator Bacik today welcomed the response from the Minister for Health and Children, but said she could not accept the delay of the bill for another year, saying:

“Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a practice which violates the human rights of girls and women, and causes long term physiological, sexual and psychological effects. It can cause death and has serious and permanent health implications.

“The Women’s Health Council, the HSE, and a whole range of NGOs have been involved on a Steering Group already to develop a national plan of action for Ireland to address FGM. Legislation to ban FGM was first passed in the UK in 1985.

“In the Dáil, Liz McManus TD introduced a bill to prohibit FGM in 2001, and last year Jan O’Sullivan TD also published similar legislation. We urgently need a law specifically criminalising this barbaric practice which has destroyed the lives of so many girls and women world-wide. I welcome the Minister’s commitment to address this issue, but there has already been a great deal of work done on developing a legal framework, and delaying the introduction of this legislation by another year is unacceptable.”

Cairde is on the National Plan of Action to Address Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Steering Committee