'Women do not seem to matter to No campaigners'

Donegal woman Taryn De Vere has added a message from the Repeal side to the many white crosses which appeared on a Donegal road this Friday morning.

Thousands of small white crosses were dug into the roadside along a 26km distance from Bridgend to Letterkenny. The display was created by local pro-life campaigners overnight, but has not been linked to the Donegal Pro-Life group.

Many motorists were shocked by the large-scale display, which is understood to symbolise the lives of children.

Prominent pro-choice campaigner Taryn De Vere was so moved by the display, and the lack of female representation, that she has written names on some of the crosses close to Letterkenny’s Dry Arch.

Photos via @TarynDeVere

Savita Halappanavar, Ann Lovett, Michelle Harte and Bimbo Onanuga are some of the names of women who died in Ireland that have been written on crosses. Their cases have been referred to regularly by those in the pro-repeal campaign.

Speaking to Donegal Woman, Taryn said she has written these names to symbolise the many women of Ireland whose lives have been affected by the 8th amendment.

“I was really upset that so much work had gone into suppressing my and other women’s rights,” she said.

“Those women were actual people, with friends and family not abstract concepts. The No campaign keeps erasing women from their messaging, they want us to imagine that the women of Ireland will go on a murdering spree if there isn’t legislation to stop us. It’s offensive and wrong.

“The 8th has caused the death of several women and harmed hundreds of thousands of women but those women do not seem to matter to No campaigners.”

Andrew Galvin and Taryn De Vere at the Donegal Together for Yes Campaign Launch, Jackson’s Hotel Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, 20st April 2018

“I was so upset I was shaking when I was writing the names on. A car stopped to ask me what the crosses were about, I told them what I was doing. They thought the crosses were disgusting and they expressed support for what I was doing,” Taryn said.

Donegal County Council confirmed today that they would remove crosses in certain areas “that are causing a hazard to either pedestrians or road users.”