'Rights Now' report funded by a grant from US billionaire's organisation

The pro-abortion "Your Rights, Right Now" report which has been the subject of so much controversy was funded by a grant of a whopping €150,000 by a U.S billionaire, it has been revealed.

Since it was launched on April 19th, the Irish Council of Civil Liberties (ICCL) report has come under fire and its endorsement process exposed and discredited. Investigations by the Life Institute and the Alive newspaper caused Trócaire, the National Council for the Blind, Crosscare, and nine other organisations to completely withdrawn their support – either because they never endorsed the report or they didn't know that a call for abortion was included in the report - while other organisations pulled back from Section 12 of the report.

Now it has emerged that the report was lavishly funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, a foundation established by Irish-American billionaire, Chuck Feeney. The foundation has poured money into groups seeking to liberalise Irish family law.

"It's quite incredible that the ICCL squeezed €150,000 from Chuck Feeney to produce this unrepresentative, flawed report," said Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute. "Then again, he has already given these abortion advocates more than €6 million so that they could try to style themselves as leading human rights advocates."

Feeney is almost the sole support of funding for the ICCL who only managed to raise € 8,822 from the Irish public in 2009.

The Life Institute also revealed that more than half of 17 groups in the Steering group that put together the 'Rights Now' report are also in receipt of funding from Feeney.

Between them those nine groups received more than €21 million through Atlantic Philanthropies since 2001.

"With a total of more than €21 Million being paid out by to these organisation alone is it a case of he who pays the piper calls the tune?" asked Niamh Uí Bhriain. "This man has too much say in the push for social change in Ireland.