New research shows that 44 per cent of people claim to know someone who has been the victim of domestic abuse. The survey, carried out on behalf of Cosc, a Government organisation mandated to prevent domestic, sexual and domestic violence, also showed most people were unwilling to intervene in situations of abuse if they related...
Children living with both biological parents or adoptive parents who attend religious services regularly are less likely to exhibit problems at school or at home, according to new research from the US. The study by psychologist Nicholas Zill, the founder of Child Trends, and statistician Philip Fletcher found that such children were 5.5 times less...
The overwhelming majority of Irish people (92 per cent) believe that children have the right to be raised by a mother and father where possible, according to a new Red C poll commissioned by The Iona Institute. The survey also showed that 53 per cent of people agreed that marriage was better for society than...
Three international gay rights advocacy organizations are jointly urging the UN body that reviews implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to incorporate the radical “Yogyakarta Principles” in its recommendations. The Yogyakarta Principles were partly developed by Irish legal expert, and Catholic priest, Professor Michael O’Flaherty. Professor O’Flaherty is a...
Ireland is the EU country with the highest birth rate, according to new figures from Eurostat, the EU’s official statistics body. Eurostat’s first demographic estimate of the EU27 showed that Ireland’s birth rate per 1,000 is 18.1, followed by the UK at 13, France at 12.9 and Estonia 12.2. The lowest rate is in Germany...
A UK atheist group has launched an advertising campaign on public transport across Britain. The ad, which says: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”, is appearing on 600 buses in cities across England, Scotland and Wales. It is set to appear on an additional 200 ‘bendy’ buses in London for...
Five Roman Catholic adoption agencies have decided to go against Catholic teaching and change their policies to allow applications from homosexual couples, after the coming into force on January 1st of the UK Government’s new Sexual Orientation Regulation. The legislation was passed in 2007, despite the fact that many religious adoption agencies said they would...
The absence of fathers in the lives of children is set to cause “huge problems”, according to Brendan Dempsey, the southern regional president of the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP). Mr Dempsey said that increasingly, mothers were being left to raise children on their own. Many fathers were shirking responsibility for their children, and...
Ireland’s divorce laws are in need of “a fundamental examination”, according to Fine Gael Senator Fergal Browne. Senator Browne expressed concern that Irish divorces are awarded on a “no fault” basis. And his views have been echoed by Justice Minister Michael McDowell. He continued “at the very least there is a need for a review,...
Elites “who want to reshape Irish society according to their lights with least possible reference to the people” are fundamentally threatening religious freedom in Ireland, according to prominent Senator, Martin Mansergh. In an article in the Irish Catholic, Senator Mansergh said that such people are demanding that their unrepresentative views “supplant the democratic wishes of...
