The Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has defended his proposed family law bill, calling it a “radical reform of the law as it relates to children and their parents” which “recognises the diversity of families and which supports children across a multiplicity of situations. “ In a speech to the Children’s Rights Alliance, Minister Shatter said...
The European Parliament has held a meeting at which calls to stop EU funding of human embryo research, including embryo stem cell research, were heard. The meeting was held as a result of the ‘One of Us’ citizen’s initiative which gathered 1.7 million signatures from around Europe, including Ireland, protesting against embryo research. The initiative also wantsdevelopment aid...
The Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality has heard aural submissions from groups that are interested in the government’s Family and Relationships Bill. Justice Minister Alan Shatter’s proposed legislation if passed will legalise surrogacy, egg and sperm donation, and give civil partners adoption rights identical to those of married couples. In addition, it will...
A significant majority of people believe that being raised by a mother and a father is the best family situation for children to grow up in, even as support for same-sex marriage remains high, according to a new Irish Times/IPSOS MRBI Poll. In response to the question “Which (of the following parenting combinations) are capable...
More than 250 academics and writers have written a letter to The Daily Telegraph condemning efforts by Ofsted, the UK’s education inspector, to have more children enrolled in ‘early education’. The head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has said children should be enrolled in pre-school from the age of two. However, the writers and academics,...
The number of parents in the US reporting ‘aggravation’ with their children has increased substantially since 1997, according to new research from Child Trends. Their new report “Do parents feel more aggravated these days? Parental aggravation in the US 1997-2012”, found that between 1997 and 2007 the proportion of parents reporting aggravation increased substantially, from...
A Christian street preacher who was arrested and held in cells for 19 hours for telling two teenagers that homosexual acts are sinful has been paid £13,000 in compensation by the Manchester Police force. According to the Daily Telegraph, John Craven, 57, was preaching from his soapbox in Manchester City Centre when two gay teenagers...
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin praised educational pluralism in his homily at the opening Mass for a new amalgamated Catholic primary school. Dr Martin said “Pluralism is something welcome. The fruits of such pluralism will have to be measured, however, not just in the provision of schools, but in an outcome in which every school, independent of...
Adoptees will be able to access records about their parents if their birth mothers have died or cannot be traced, under legislation proposed by Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald. According to the Sunday Times, Minister Fitzgerald said that “at the moment we have a passive system, and I want to move to an active system. Historically,...
The average age at which people in Ireland get married rose to 34.7 years for grooms in 2012 and 32.6 for brides, while the marriage rate has increased slightly compared to the previous year, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. According to the CSO’s ‘Vital Statistics: Marriage and Civil Partnerships’ report,...
