The Taliban have landed in Ireland!

As far back as 1946, George Orwell remarked that the word "Fascism" had lost its original meaning and had become simply a label for "something not desirable." That is far more true now than it was then. The same has happened with the word "racism", with many of our friends on the Left using that brush to tar all manner of opinions and positions, not merely the (nowadays fairly uncommon) belief that one particular people is biologically superior to others. When polemicists want to brand something they dislike, they choose an inflammatory word, something universally hated and feared, something that will get decent people's blood up.

Only a few days ago the Cornell Society for a Good Time were compared to the Taliban by a reader. Today, I opened the Irish Daily Mail and found, over the familiar faces of Íde Nic Mhathúna and Eoghan de Faoite, the headline The Catholic Taliban.

Seeing that, I had just the tiniest inkling of a suspicion that someone in the Mail is not very fond of Youth Defence.

In fact, the article, by Brian Carroll, is not anything like as bad as that unbelievably silly headline would suggest. The upshot is that Youth Defence have been given a new lease of life by the UCC stem cell controversy, and that with Íde at the helm they have been mounting a vigorous poster and leafleting campaign in Munster. Íde is referred to as "the prodigal daughter" (has she been squandering her parents' money abroad or something? The article doesn't say) who apparently wants to "eclipse" the rest of her family in pro-life activism. Along the way, the article gives us some interesting facts. Referring to Tuesday's debate in UCC with Dr David Prentice and Wesley Smith, we are told that

"Youth Defence did invite Dr Deirdre Madden, the college board member who proposed the ESCR in the first place to debate with Prentice and Smith, but she declined. As such it became more of a rally than a debate."

Well, if your opponent refuses to debate with you, that's hardly your fault, is it? Given that Dr Madden was invited to the event (a courtesy rarely extended to Youth Defence by its pro-abortion opponents), and given the gravity of the issue as well as the depth of her involvement in it, I am astonished that she declined. It doesn't exactly fill you with confidence in the pro-ESCR lobby!

There are other little negative digs in the article. Youth Defence are "swamping" Munster with posters, their literature is "graphic and gut-wrenching". (Well, some of us would reply, abortion is a gut-wrenching thing.) Eoghan de Faoite, whom I have only ever known as a friendly, phlegmatic and good-humoured fellow, is called "a divisive figure". "[T]here are some conservatives who feel he and Youth Defence blur the message with their controversial campaigns." Who are these "conservatives"? What "message" are Youth Defence "blurring"? We are not told.

The article tries to conjure up the spectre of finances by telling us, in a meaningful tone, that "Youth Defence, in common with several pro-life organisations in Ireland, is very well-funded." That just might have something to do with the fact that most Irish people are, you know, pro-life.

Niamh Uí Bhriain is mentioned as being involved with Cóir, "a group accused by the Government of spreading "malicious lies" during the Lisbon Treaty Campaign about Europe forcing abortion, prostitution and euthanasia on Ireland." Anyone who took the trouble to read Cóir's literature could see quite plainly that its main argument against Lisbon was the issue of national sovereignty. It didn't make a big deal of the possible threat to morality if the Treaty was carried. Appearing on Questions and Answers shortly before the referendum, Niamh very eloquently stated that her main wish was that the Irish people, whatever their views on abortion, should be the ones deciding what the law in that area was to be - not the eurocrats.

For all that, the article is nothing like as mean-spirited as its headline (presumably not written by Mr Carroll) would have you believe. All it really tells you is that YD are a dynamic, determined group of people, that they mean business in the fight for the unborn, and that their opponents are running scared. Oh, and it also mentions that YD are asking supporters to contribute as little as €10 a month to their campaign. Why, thank you for the tip, Mr Carroll - since I've started a job these past two weeks, I am in a position to do just that. Hopefully my readers are too.