Here at FPP we’re not afraid of the term “conspiracy theory”.

When two or more people plan to deceive, that is a conspiracy. When you suspect this may be happening, until you have proof then it is a but a theory. There’s nothing frightening about the two words yet over time they are put together to pretty much discredit anyone who cries foul about anything.

Take the bravery of the @TwoWomenTravel timeline from the weekend just gone. Apparently they set up the twitter account in advance of the date, so there were those who knew this was going to happen. This makes us curious about the supposed “Leaked strategy document” from the Open Society Foundation of billionaire George Soros which conveniently came to light on Saturday giving “Pro-Lifers” a stick with which to beat their opponents as the women live-tweeted their journey :

In the leaked strategy document, the foundation said it would fund the three Irish organisations (Amnesty International Ireland, the Abortion Rights Campaign and the Irish Family Planning Association) “to work collectively on a campaign to repeal Ireland’s constitutional amendment granting equal rights to an implanted embryo as the pregnant woman”.

All a bit too convenient if you ask me.  Cora Sherlock et all were at hand for the entire day to cry foul at the notion of (paraphrase) “millions in foreign donations to influence the Irish Constitution”.  A Constitution much of which was pretty much hand-written by the Vatican-based Catholic Church, I might add.

Thankfully the protestations did not go unanswered, as with this tweet from Colm O’Gorman :

As I said, we are transparent. Others? Not so much: Why US Pro-Life Dollars Are Pouring Into Ireland #repealthe8th https://t.co/QZyANRlXbc

— Colm O’Gorman (@Colmogorman) August 20, 2016

The article (from 2013) shines some light on the source of funds for such “Pro-Life” organisations as Youth Defence, though the news is hardly surprising…

American abortion opponents have given hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to the Irish pro-life lobby, according to Joseph Scheidler, spokesman for the U.S.-based Pro-Life Action League.

When the Irish government finnaly gets around to establishing wording and setting a date for a referendum on the 8th Amendment, it is going to be an extremely bitter campaign, of that there can be no debate.