Ireland has the second highest effective tax rate for one income married families in the developed world, according to new research. The study, carried out by a UK pro-marriage charity, Care, showed that Ireland has a marginal effective tax rate of 64pc for such families. This is based on a married couple, with two children,...
Swedish schools are permitted to gather in church premises during Advent but the services must be free from any religious element, under new guidelines drawn up by the country’s National Agency for Education (NAE). The stance of the NAE has been criticised by politicians and other public figures. A group of politicians have condemned the...
The health department in the US state of Washington looks set to remove the words “bride” and “groom” from marriage and divorce certificates, after same-sex marriage was approved in a referendum last month. Spaces once reserved for a “bride” and “groom” will become more gender-neutral, according to MyNorthWest.com. “Obviously those words aren’t going to fit...
A number of senior Conservative MPs, including some former Ministers, have said that Chancellor George Osborne must honour the party’s promise to give a tax break to married couples. The calls were led by Tim Loughton, the former families minister, who warned that next week’s Autumn Statement represented the Chancellor’s last chance to deliver on...
Thirty-seven percent of Catholics attend Mass at least once a week, with a further seven percent attending once a fortnight and another eight percent attending every three to four weeks, adding up to a total of 52 percent who attend Mass regularly. The findings are in a new poll conducted on behalf of The Irish...
Eighteen percent of children aged 13 are being raised by a single parent, new figures show. The data are contained in the Growing Up in Ireland-Key Findings: 13 year-olds report, which is part of an ongoing longitudinal study into the lives of Irish children. The report also shows that 41pc of 13 year olds are...
The Government’s Expert Group report, published on Monday, recommends that the right of doctors and other medical staff to conscientiously object to abortion must be limited. The report which suggests that the Government legalise abortion either through legislation or through regulations, in line with the X case decision, also seeks to limit conscience in other...
Men are being forced into part-time work by the recession, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show. The figures, published today in the latest Quarterly National Household Survey, show that the number of men in part-time work is now 143,800 men, an increase of over 20,000 in two years. The number of women...
Catholic schools in the UK educate more pupils from deprived areas than the national average yet outperform other schools by up to 10pc, according to a report published on Monday. The 2012 census of Catholic schools in England and Wales, released by the Catholic Education Service (CES), revealed that 20pc of pupils at State-funded Catholic...
Support for same-sex marriage has fallen by 20pc since February, a new poll in Irish Times shows. The poll showed that 53pc of Irish voters support changing the Constitution to allow same-sex couples to marry, a huge drop since a poll in February by Red C showed that 73pc of voters favoured same-sex marriage. Women...
