Scientists in Newcastle have created artificial sperm in a laboratory for the first time, sparking major ethical concerns. The research, carried out at the North East England Stem Cell Institute, involved the destruction of human embryos. The sperm created is still not able to fertilise an egg and this may still be many years away....
Education Minister Batt O’Keefe has said he “is not certain” whether Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and Bishop Leo O’Reilly, the Chair of the Hierarchy’s Education Commission, are “in unison” on the issue of the future of Catholic schools. Minister O’Keefe was speaking in the Dail yesterday where he did not rule out holding a public forum...
Catholic schools in England and Wales have displayed “a commitment to standards but also a commitment to wellbeing, to supporting the wider cultural and spiritual and moral development of children,” the UK’s Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families has said. Mr Ed Balls was speaking to the Catholic Education Service of England and...
Only 12 per cent of children in the UK are now baptised, and there has also been a collapse in the number of Church weddings, a leading Church of England bishop has warned. And the Church of England could die out within a generation if the problem isn’t tackled, according to Rt Rev Paul Richardson....
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) have again called for children to be allowed to access child support and child protection services without their parents consent. Speaking yesterday at a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, Caroline O’Sullivan, the ISPCC’s Director of Services, said that presently...
Young children, often from broken homes, are being recruited by Limerick’s criminal gangs, according to a major new study. The gangs are using children as young as eight to intimidate families who resist their control or are suspected of giving information to gardai, sometimes by burning them out of their homes. The study, carried out...
Ten per cent of all marriages in Ireland now involve at least one person who has been divorced, according to figures released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). In addition, a majority of middle-aged people who marry, are marrying for a second time. In 2006, 22,089 marriages were contracted in Ireland. Of these, 2,253...
The continuing rise in the number of children being born outside marriage has been described as “alarming” by The Iona Institute. Figures released today by the CSO in its Vital Statistics report for 2006 show that the total number of births outside marriage was 21,397 in 2006. This is 1,896 more than in 2005 and...
A planned code of conduct for UK teachers risks imposing a “test of professional commitment to secularism”, a leading employment lawyer says. John Bowers QC, a leading employment lawyer, says the draft code does not do enough to safeguard the religious liberty of Christian teachers. It could “lead to a ‘chilling effect’, creating a culture...
The Government’s Civil Partnerships Bill, published today, reveals “a deeply flawed and poorly thought-out approach to family policy which undermines the special status of marriage,” according to The Iona Institute. The Bill gives same-sex couples most of the same rights that currently attach to married couples, including favourable tax treatment, pension rights, the right to...
