The Government is to consider lowering the age of consent for sex from 17 to 16. Enda Kenny opposed the idea when he was opposition leader in 2006. The issue was set to be discussed today in the final meeting before the Christmas break, The Irish Times reports. An Oireachtas committee recommended lowering the...
Australia’s High Court has struck down a law passed in the Australian Capital Territory permitting same-sex marriage. The court, the highest in Australia’s justice system, held that only the federal parliament could amend the nation’s marriage laws. The unanimous ruling found that the Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013 passed in the Australian Capital Territory...
Growing up without a father may transform the structure of children’s brains, a new research suggests. A study carried out by Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center and recently published in the journal Cerebral Cortex says that fatherless children have a higher risk of being more aggressive and angry. The research, which was...
Denominational schools should no longer have the right to prefer children from their own denomination, the Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan (pictured), has said. In a submission to the Department of Education on draft legislation on school admissions, the Ombudsman also called for an end to preferential access for the children of past pupils,...
Catholic politicians have an obligation to have regard to the social doctrine of the Church when they make policy, Pope Francis has said. Speaking to representatives of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, a group which works with politicians to promote human dignity, the Pope said that politicians needed encouragement “ to think according to the...
Ireland’s gender pay gap is lower than the European average, according to new EU figures. According to the report from Eurostat, published on Monday, men on average earn 13.9pc more than women here, compared to the EU average of 16.2pc. The figures are from 2010, and show that a number of other European countries have...
A court has ruled that the Polish parliament is permitted to display the crucifix. A small secular party had argued that the presence of the crucifix discriminated against them as nonbelievers. However the court ruled that, having regard to Poland’s Christian heritage, the crucifix was not simply a religious symbol, but also a national symbol,...
A resolution declaring that abortion is a human right has been defeated for a second time this morning by the European Parliament. The Estrela report, was narrowly defeated when an alternative resolution tabled by the centre-right groups was approved by 334 votes to 327, with 35 abstentions. The alternative motion, sponsored by the European People’s...
Couples should get married if they want to have children, according to one of the UK’s top family judges. Sir Paul Coleridge (pictured) has said that couples whose relationship is not stable enough to merit getting married should not have children. Sir Paul, who set up the Marriage Foundation, a think-tank dedicated to promoting marriage,...
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for teaching Catholic hospitals not to perform direct abortions. The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against the bishops on behalf of a Michigan woman named Tamesha Means, the Catholic News Agency reports. Means was treated at Mercy Health Muskegon,...
