Tim Jackson from Ballybofey has started a campaign outside the Dáil Eireann in opposition of the upcoming referendum on the Eighth Amendment.
The 28-year-old former election candidate has begun a campaign to raise attention to his demands that Leo Varadkar and the Oireachtas Committee on Abortion watch a video of an abortion at their meeting before discussing a referendum any further.
Jackson wrote to Leo Varadkar and Senator Catherine Noone, chairwoman of the committee, last week requesting the group watch footage of the procedure, but did not receive a response.
Jackson told Taoiseach Varadkar and Senator Noone that if his request was not answered he would take ‘proportionate, peaceful action’, which has begun today.
Jackson has said he will drink water and says the hunger strike will not be to the point of death. He began this morning carrying a white flag which, he says, ‘calls for an end to the war on unwanted, unborn babies’.
Tim Jackson begins his hunger strike, 18th September 2017
Jackson is a self-employed marketing consultant who ran as an Independent in the last General Election.
He made a live address on Facebook from outside government buildings this morning, where he was standing accompanied by a bag piper who played Amazing Grace.
Jackson said “Our leaders apparently don’t want to face the ugly truth of how the child is killed, despite pushing for a repeal of the 8th Amendment.
“How many of them even care that the remains of the child are incinerated, as if they never existed? There is no outcry over a human being that’s killed or denied a grave in this instance; there’s actually political support for it.
“We also have a Minister for Children who has brought her office into disrepute by calling for a repeal which would strip children in the womb of their natural right to life. Choosing which human beings can live and die is unacceptable, and they won’t get away with this.”
