A case has come to light from the Coombe hospital involving a woman who was told she could have not an abortion – not yet at any rate – because her unborn baby’s abnormality did not appear to fall within the definition of ‘fatal’ that is contained in the new abortion law. The reaction of...
The General Scheme of the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill was before the Oireachtas Health Committee this week. The proposed law covers such issues as sperm and egg and embryo “donations”, pre-implantation diagnosis and sex selection, embryonic and stem cell research, etc. The hearing was anything but constructive. The well-reasoned objections of witnesses like Emma O’Friel...
Should single people pay less tax and married people pay more than under the present Irish system? That seems to be the gist of an article in the Irish Times this week. In tones of regret, it said that “while society has moved forward in so many ways over recent decades, our tax system still...
By David Mullins The first Bill in our Tale claims to seek long overdue and radical reform of a centuries old system that some say is permeated with archaic and oppressive practices. This same system has denied countless people fair access while favoring the wealthy or least those with more means than most and despite...
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” So begins the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris 70 years ago, on 10th December 1948. The idea of dignity, which is the basis of any human right, has a long history that...
The “Religious Freedom in the World 2018” report, newly launched by Aid to the Church in Need, lists grave violations of religious freedom in 38 countries and the situation is clearly worsening. This report assesses the religious situation of 196 countries in the world, looking at legislation, incidents of note, and at a projection of...
Last week’s RTE programme about the gender gap in Ireland claimed to offer ‘the big picture’ about the reality of Irish women’s lives today. It certainly failed to do that. The women selected were atypical in terms of their chosen professions and life situations. The scrolling flow of statistics across the screen also failed to...
The Government is funnelling significant funding to creche facilities, with the hope that more mothers will enter the workforce. The policy ignores the fact that many parents don’t want to put their children into day-care and it also ignores a new study which shows that subsidising day-care might not have much impact on parental choices....
The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018 is set to return to the Dáil for Report Stage debate next week. We can be almost certain that before, during and after this debate, the onslaught of deliberate misrepresentations around the 16 ‘pro-life’ amendments will continue apace. Much of the commentary surrounding those amendments has...
Despite the wish of some atheists, the religious instinct of human beings is basically ineradicable. When it doesn’t find a direct religious outlet, it will find other outlets, such as politics. By ‘the religious instinct’ I mean the wish to find meaning and purpose in life, something bigger than ourselves, transcendence, a belief in a...
