The Chair of the Catholic schools Partnership, Fr Michael Drumm spoke to the Iona Institute on the subject of denominational schools. Fr Drumm said that some of the preliminary recommendations of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism could have the effect of badly undermining the ethos and identity of denominational schools.

Mr Henk Vos, a member VGS an organisation which supports boards and directors of Christian schools in the Netherlands, spoke to the Iona Institute about the Dutch experience of faith schools. Mr Vos explained how in the Netherlands two-thirds of primary schools are Church-run and State-funded and enjoy a high degree of autonomy. The result,...

The Church of England Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir Ali, addressed the Iona Institute on 9th May 2012 on the topic of aggressive secularism. You can listen to the question and answer session here.

In March, the Iona Institute hosted a conference last week on the future of denominational schools in light of Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s Forum on the same topic. The three speakers were the Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath and Kildare, Richard Clarke; the Chair of the Catholic schools Partnership, Fr Michael Drumm; and Mr...

George Weigel, author of the best-selling and most authoritative biography of Pope John Paul II, ‘Witness to Hope’, and one of America’s leading public intellectuals, addressed The Iona Institute on the topic ‘Renewing the Church’ in December. Almost 300 peopel were in attendance. The meeting was chaired by Dr Vincent Twomey, former Professor of Moral...

Finola Bruton explains how the very high level of male unemployment in Ireland needs to be studied. Men in Ireland are 70pc more likely than women to be unemployed unlike in other EU countries where unemployment is 50/50.

– Tax individualisation is inherently unfair to single-income couples and discourages one parent from staying at home with their children – Income splitting is fairer because it takes account of the fact that a family is a group of people with common interests rather than a group of individuals who happen to live in the...

– Too little time for parenting and too much daycare is a growing problem for Swedish society – Ninety-two percent of young Swedish children are now in heavily subsidized daycare and the quality of daycare is declining – So are Swedish education standards    – Most Swedish parents would prefer to look after their young children...

–  Social policies that assume all women want to work are unfair and act against the actual wishes of most women – Such policies are an attempt to promote gender equality but they have never worked, not even in countries like Sweden – Such policies may also be incompatible with quality care for children –...

– Irish social policy assumes all women want to work even when they have children – In fact, most mothers want to spend as much time with their children as possible– Tax individualisation acts counter to the wishes of most Irish mothers Irish social policy has been shaped by a number of myths regarding women...