One in six providers of childcare has not applied to take part in the Government’s new pre-school scheme, which replaces an annual direct payment to parents of €1000 for each child under five, because they don’t feel the amount of money on offer is enough to cover their costs. The plan will cost €170m —...

Government statistics show the number of civil partnerships being formed in the UK continues to fall significantly. The 7,169 civil partnerships entered into in 2008 represent an 18 per cent fall from the 2007 figure of 8,728. Between 2006 and 2007 the drop had been even greater, down 46 per cent after the initial ‘boom’...

Vandals have attacked the Amsterdam offices of EuroCongress, the professional conference organizer for World Congress of Families (WCF), due to start next week. The exterior of the EuroCongress building was defaced and damaged and smeared with obscenities and anti-Christian slogans. The WCF has taken place four times since 1997, with the last congress in 2008...

Britain’s Roman Catholic leaders have branded a proposed EU Equal Treatment Directive an “instrument of oppression”. The Bishops are concerned that the Directive could limit freedom of religion and freedom of expression. They warn that if the Directive were implemented “the EU would effectively be dictating to religious bodies what their faith does or does...

The Government is to axe a €1000-per-year childcare payment to parents with children under the age of five. The payment, which parents were free to use at their discretion, will now be given instead to directly to childcare providers. The Government is set to give these providers a capitation payment based on the number of...

Married couples living together in the UK are suffering under the tax and benefit system which favours parents who have separated, a new report has revealed. By staying together, couples could lose between £58 and £68 every week. The figures come in a report by CARE (Christian Action, Research and Education) which has released studies...

Only 11 per cent of children of primary school age are in child care, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office. The figures also show that most of these are looked after either in their home by an au pair or nanny, or by a paid relative and not in an outside location....

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said his country’s ban on gay marriage would remain, despite moves within his Labor Party to have it overturned. Labor policy also opposes civil unions. Mr Rudd is blocking a push at a Party conference this week to allow same-sex marriages. According to a report on Australia’s ABC News,...

Only 11 per cent of children of primary school age are in child care, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office. The figures also show that most of these are looked after either in their home by an au pair or nanny, or by a paid relative and not in an outside location....

Amnesty International Ireland head Colm O’Gorman has said opposition to same-sex marriage and adoption is “rooted in bigotry”. In an attack on the Government’s Civil Partnership Bill, Mr O’Gorman said that the failure of the legislation to allow same-sex couples to jointly adopt was “a cowardly decision undermining the rights of children on the basis...