About 400 people held a candle lit vigil in Cork last night for Savita Halappanavar with many carrying placards calling on the government to introduce legislation on foot of the X case and others speaking of their shame at what had happened.
Men and women of all ages gathered outside the Opera House on Emmet Place and lit candles before placing them on the pavement and spelling out Savita’s name in flames that flickered in the night.
Among those attending the vigil, which was organised by Cork Feminista, was child psychologist Mary Phelan who had travelled from Innishannon in west Cork to show support and express her anger at the lack of legislation.
“We stopped work and we stopped everything this afternoon to email every Minister to say how strongly we feel about this and we’ve driven from Innishannon to be here to make our voices heard.
“I couldn’t find the words to describe how I felt I was so outraged when I heard what happened to this poor woman. It just shouldn’t have happened. They can say we must learn lessons from it but this was an entirely predictable mess and they let it happen.
“It’s not good enough to just say that it can’t happen again. We must make sure that it doesn’t happen again. I feel mortified in front of the world that we have stood by and allowed this happen in our country today. I think we should all be hanging our heads in shame.”
