The Government has cleared the way for the altering of birth certificates of people who have undergone “sex change” operations or otherwise had their ‘true gender’ recognised. Yesterday, it withdrew its appeal against a High Court ruling which held that the State’s refusal to change the birth certs of those who had undergone such procedures...
Talking with their fathers about important topics makes children happier, according to a new study. The study, which coincides with Father’s Day, found that young people who said that they talked seriously to their fathers “most days” gave themselves an 87 per cent score on a happiness scale. Those who did not scored themselves 79...
A lesbian whose former partner bore a child through sperm donation cannot be ordered to pay any maintenance, a High Court judge in the UK ruled yesterday. The former couple never contracted a legal civil partnership and, as the law stands, the woman who did not have the child could not be defined as a...
A German court has said that a same-sex marriage performed in Canada could only be considered a civil partnership in Germany. The case bears a striking resemblence to a case taken by a lesbian couple in this jurisdiction. Katherine Zappone and Anne Louise Gilligan, who contracted a same-sex marriage in Canada, claim that the failure...
The number of couples divorcing in Northern Ireland has fallen sharply, according to new figures. Almost 2,200 couples officially split last year, nearly 600 fewer than in 2008, new statistics reveal. The decline is being linked by some people to the recession and the decline in the value of couples’ property which has hit the...
Ireland’s Catholic bishops have called for a free vote in the Dáil and Seanad on the Government’s controversial Civil Partnership Bill. In a statement released after their annual summer meeting, they appealed to the Government “to support a free vote for all members of Dáil Éireann and the Seanad on this Bill as it passes...
Proposals to reconfigure the the lone parent allowance scheme may be unconsistutional, according to a senior Labour TD. Kathleen Lynch (pictured) has suggested the new plans, which will see single parents lose their right to the payment when their child reaches 13, will face a legal challenge because the proposal discriminates against the children of...
The portrayal in the media of women as mothers is “sexist” and “a barrier to gender equality”, according to a new report produced for the Council of Europe. The report, written by Ms Doris Stump, a Swiss member of the Socialist group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), claims that the...
Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has said that politicians shouldn’t allow religion to “cloud their judgement”. In an interview with the Irish Times, Mr Ahern referred to opposition to the Civil Partnership Bill which he has sponsored. He said: “I do leave my religion behind me and I genuinely mean that. While we all have our...
HSE social workers “are regarded with fear and hostility in many communities, particularly those that are most deprived,” according to a leading Irish expert in social policy and social work. Writing in yesterday’s Irish Times, Dr Helen Buckley of Trinity College Dublin said that a 2008 report published by the office of the Minister of...
