Couples who pretend to live apart can gain up to £10,000 a year in benefits, according to a new book published by UK think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs. Written by sociologist and author Patricia Morgan, the book says that the scale of the fraud is the result of a Government policy which discourages...
Fine Gael have pledged to begin easing the effects of tax individualisation if they are in Government after the General Election. Their plan involves increasing the stay-at-home tax credit, currently worth €770 pa, by €1000 pa. The proposal is in line with the tax policy document launched by the Iona Institute which called for the...
The Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference have called for the Government’s proposed referendum on children’s rights to be postponed until after the General Election. Their call, made on Wednesday after their March quarterly meeting, adds to those of Opposition politicians, children’s advocacy groups and leading academics who have also been asking the Government to delay the...
Stay-at-home mothers have been heavily penalised by the Government’s ongoing tax individualisation policy, according to a new report published by the Iona Institute. The report says that the growing income gap, which now stands at up to €6,240 between single and double income married families should be an issue in the forthcoming election. Launched to...
A German brother and sister, who have four children together are campaigning to have their country’s incest laws quashed. The two siblings, Patrick and Susan Stubing — who grew up separately — have had three of their children taken into foster care. Two of the children have disabilities although it is not known if these...
Irish children are more likely than those in other countries to abuse drugs and alcohol, a new Government-sponsored study on child well-being has found. The report, State of the Nation’s Children, launched yesterday by Minister of State for Children, Mr Brian Lenihan, showed that 40 per cent of Irish children aged 15 reported having used...
New divorce statistics show that women are twice as likely to apply for divorce as men, a conference on family law was told on Tuesday. The findings support the poll results found by the Iona Institute, which found that women were far less likely to think that married couples should stay together for the sake...
Prime Minister Tony Blair today rejected calls to put marriage at the heart of social and family policy. Rejecting Conservative Party leader David Cameron’s suggestion that family breakdown and fatherlessness were at the heart of Britain’s social ills, Mr Blair said that anti-social problems were not limited to fatherless families. Specific intervention was needed to...
The number of new marriages in Britain has fallen to the lowest level in 111 years, according to new data which emerged last week. Latest figures reveal that the number of marriages has dropped by 30,000 between 2004 and 2005 to a total of just over 244,000. The figures, compiled by the Office for National...
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has praised organised religion as a force for good in Irish society. Speaking at the opening of an ongoing structured dialogue between the State and religious groups, the Taoiseach said that there was no place in Ireland for “aggressive secularism”. Such a secularism, he said “would be a betrayal of the best...
