Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore (pictured) has denied that he is pushing for assisted suicide after it was suggested there was a split between him and Taoiseach Enda Kenny on the issue. It comes after he appeared to suggest last week in the Dáil that he would welcome legislation on assisted suicide. Responding to a question by...
Nearly 20 percent of all births in the second quarter of this year were to cohabiting couples, new figures show. The figures, published by the Central Statistics Office in its quarterly Vital Statistics report, show that there were 17,107 births registered in the second quarter of 2013. Of these, 3,311, or 19.3pc, were to unmarried...
Children in one-parent families are the “most disadvantaged in terms of household income and maternal education” according to a survey of five year old children in Ireland. The latest report from the Growing Up In Ireland project, entitled The Family Circumstances of Five Year Olds, found that children born into single parent families were more...
One of nine new post-primary schools announced by the Department of Education and Skills will have a Catholic patron. All others will be overseen by multi-denominational and non-denominational patrons. The nine new schools will be opened in 2015 and 2016, and will provide spaces for 7,300 students in areas of Cork, Cavan, Dublin and...
The family “is experiencing a profound cultural crisis” from individualism and postmodernism, Pope Francis has warned. In Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) the Pope said that all communities and social bonds were being endangered by current cultural trends. But he said that the weakening of these bonds was especially serious in the case...
Sweden has been accused of violating the European Social Charter’s “right to protection of health [and] non-discrimination” for doctors and medical students who refuse to participate in abortion. The complaint was filed to the Council of Europe by the Federation of Catholic Family Associations, (FAFCE), an international NGO. According to the complaint, in Sweden, “Health...
Women are now having more sexual partners over a lifetime compared with 20 years ago and having sex earlier, according to a national UK survey. However, one in ten women say that they have been forced to have sex against their will, compared to one in 71 men, and women who have had just one...
Teens and young adults who engage in frequent casual sex are at greater risk of depression and even suicidal thoughts, according to new research. A study published in the Journal of Sex found that poor mental health and casual sex contribute to each other over time among teens and young adults. According to the research,...
Pro-life group Youth Defence have had their offices vandalised for the seventh time in a year. Vandals threw rocks in a first floor window last Friday night, the organisation said. Niamh Uí Bhriain of Youth Defence is calling on politicians to condemn this violence. “If pro-life people behaved like this, there would be uproar, and...
A new Bill which would allow abortion where the unborn child is terminally ill is “ deeply hurtful to families whose babies live or lived with a terminal illness” the Pro Life Campaign has said. The Government will not prevent the Bill, the Protection of Life in Pregnancy (Amendment) (Fatal Foetal Abnormalities) Bill and sponsored...
