New research claims that having a working mother produces better emotional outcomes for girls than having a mother who stays at home. However, the report relies for its conclusions on the opinions of the mothers themselves about their children’s behaviour rather than on objective data. The study does not mention how many hours the children...
The youth wing of the Finnish Green Party has proposed the legalisation of polygamy. The Federation of Green Youth and Students (ViNO) has said it believes that Finnish marriage laws “discriminate” against those who want multiple spouses. Party secretary for the Greens, Panu Laturi commented to Finnish newspaper Iltalehti that the main party does not...
Teenagers aged 16-17 should be allowed to access contraception without parental permission, according to a new report by the Law Reform Commission (LRC). This is in spite of research from the UK showing that allowing teenagers easier access to contraception does not reduce rates of teenage pregnancy, and may be associated with higher levels of...
The State and educational authorities must fully respect and accommodate the authority of parents and guardians to direct the education of their own children, according to a new document drafted by the Canadian Catholic Civil Rights League. The document, entitled Declaration on the Authority of Parents and Guardians in the Education of their Children, says...
Fianna Fáil Senator Mark Daly has accused the leader of the Labour party in the Senate, Ivana Bacik (pictured), of exploiting the publication of the Cloyne Report for political gain, after she called for an end to the saying of a prayer at the commencement of proceedings in the Seanad. Her call came days after...
A Catholic mental health worker who was fired by the NHS after giving a work colleague a booklet about the effects of abortion on women’s mental health has taken an unfair dismissal case. Ms Margaret Forrester (pictured) has issued an Employment Tribunal claim for unfair dismissal, direct and indirect religious and belief discrimination, and religious...
The state of Washington is set to become the first state in the US to allow children conceived through sperm or egg donation to gain access to crucial health information about their biological parents. A new law requires donors to provide, “at a minimum,” identifying information and medical history to the fertility clinic. It follows...
A leading British think-tank has claimed that marriage does not improve outcomes for children compared with cohabitation. A study conducted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that whether a child is raised in a married family or by cohabiting parents makes little difference to how children turn out once certain factors such as...
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that citizens have the right to refuse to participate in military service on religious grounds. It is the first time that the right of conscientious objection to military service has been explicitly recognised under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Gregor Puppinck,...
A leading columnist has slammed Government proposals to force priests to break the seal of confession if someone confesses to them that they have been guilty of child abuse. Mary Kenny, writing in the Irish Independent, said that the proposed legislation, announced last week in the wake of the Cloyne Report, would be “a dangerous...
