Parents and teachers are objecting to proposals to divest one of eight Catholic schools in Malahide, Kinsealy and Portmarnock in north Dublin to another educational patron. David Quinn appeared on the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk during the week to discuss the matter, as well as on RTE’s Drivetime. You can listen to items here...
This is a sort of man bites dog story that reverses the usual expectations, but according to a big new American survey, people in their 20s are having sex less often than people in their 30s, or even in their 50s. But your 20s are supposed to be the time of maximum libido, so what...
The Oireachtas Health Committee met recently for the last pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill that will regulate Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR). The hearings have confirmed that the Committee suffers from huge blind spots about some of pitfalls of AHR and the undermining in many cases of the rights of the resultant children. Two representatives of...
An 11 country international survey that includes Ireland finds that cohabiting parents are less likely to be confident about their relationships and less happy in their family life than married parents. This briefing note from The Iona Institute examines the results of the survey and highlights ‘The Cohabitation Difference’.
Mind the Gap II finds that those in the most disadvantaged social class are three times as likely to have suffered a broken marriage as those in the highest. It is a companion paper to Mind the Gap I which found that the most disadvantaged are far less likely to marry in the first place...
Maria Steen was on Today with Sean O’Rourke last week to discuss the future of Catholic schools. also on the programme was Michael Kelly, Editor of The Irish Catholic. Maria spoke about growing pressures on the ethos of Catholic schools, and that the Church needs to greatly cut down on the number of schools it...
The primary function of religion isn’t to make you happy. It is to draw you closer to God and make you a better person. In addition, every spiritual writer, every great novelist, every thinker worth their salt knows that sometimes we only become better people through suffering, which anyone who has ever cared about someone...
The Iona Institute released a report last week further highlighting the big marriage gap that exists between middle class and working class people. CSO data show that professional workers are twice as likely to be married, and only a third as likely to be divorced or separated as unskilled workers. Breda O’Brien turned her attention...
Professor Patricia Casey was on Newstalk Breakfast yesterday to discuss a new report from The Iona Institute which shows that the marriage breakdown rate for unskilled workers is three times that of professional workers, a yawning marriage gap. You can listen to the item here.
The General Scheme of the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill was before the Oireachtas Health Committee this week. The proposed law covers such issues as sperm and egg and embryo “donations”, pre-implantation diagnosis and sex selection, embryonic and stem cell research, etc. The hearing was anything but constructive. The well-reasoned objections of witnesses like Emma O’Friel...
