Lord mayor to be guest speaker at Scientology event

LongCatSilver

http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=66081-qqqx=1.asp

LORD MAYOR of Cork Brian Bermingham is reportedly lined up to speak at a health conference at Cork City Hall which is being organised by the controversial religious group, the Church of Scientology.

Mental Health Awareness Weekend is due to open today and continue until Sunday. According to advertising, the conference is being organised by the Citizen’s Commission for Human Rights Ireland whose website highlights the presence of the Lord Mayor as guest speaker at the seminar. However, CCHR has been revealed as a front for the Church of Scientology — whose famous followers include Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Dialogue Ireland, an independent trust promoting awareness and understanding of new religious movements and cultism, is to protest at City Hall this weekend.

The Church of Scientology is opposed to medical psychiatry and psychology claming “psychiatrists ruin lives and undermine society at huge cost”.

The CCHR website describes psychiatry as an “industry of death” and being “behind the Holocaust”. One of their objectives is to “destroy” the profession.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Liveline, former Dublin Lord Mayor Dermot Lacey said that the church had tried to hire out the Mansion House but permission was refused. “We would not allow anyone to book it who would endorse the manipulation of young people. Having such a group at the Mansion House or Cork City Hall gives them an air of respectability that they shouldn’t be given,” he said.

The Lord Mayor could not be contacted for comment last night.

A spokesperson for Cork City Council said the Concert Hall in the City Hall is a public venue available to individuals and organisations subject to the usual terms and conditions.

AFC_1903

Any idea if they'll be protesting tomorrow? I might join them for a bit. Hate Scientology and the theivery and exploitation within it.

Fysh

...That's appaling, Ireland already has enough issues regarding the (failure to provide) treatment of mental health issues without letting a bunch of money-grabbing cultists claim that their cult is the one true way towards mental health.

craichoe

If protesting remember to cover your face !!!

Those a**holes will find out where you live and make your life a living hell.

dahamsta

That link is broken, any chance of a proper link please?

The CCHR website is at cchr.ie. Please don't like it, crap like that doesn't deserve the PageRank.

adam

LongCatSilver

Sorry, the Irish Examiner story was archived, the new link is http://www.irishexaminer.com/text/story.asp?j=mhaumhsnqlcwgb&p=3x3977z

The protests lasted all 3 days of the exhibit, and I think they were quite successful in letting people know the truth about what was going on. There were times when no-one went in for hours for hours at a stretch - I think about 60 people went in over the 3 days, and even then, many of those seemed more curious to 'find out how bad it was'.

scaryfairy

that's really scary, I didn't notice the protesters and thought that the initiative was really good and run by the HSE... and the event was promoted by Saor Patrol, a really cool looking and sounding band from Scotland, they played on Patrick Street on Sat. afternoon. thanks for posting the correct info!

themadhair

There were more than few people who were disgusted at the false pretences that the event was held under. The question I want to ask is why is anti-cult ungroup the ones to do what the HSE/CorkCC should have been doing?

The good news is that the CCHR had a very downstat event.