This year is the 50th anniversary of The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan, one of the most influential books of the late 20th century and possibly the key text in modern feminism. In the latest edition of the Family in America journal, author Charmaine Crouse Yoest argues that the book launched modern feminism’s war on...
The Supreme Court is in the midst of considering the issue of assisted suicide, after last month’s High Court ruling upholding Ireland’s ban on the practice was appealed. Yesterday, the court heard from the lawyer from the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC), Frank Callanan SC, who argued that the appellant, Marie Fleming, should have the...
Last week I was asked by a school to address its transition year and sixth year girls on the topic of abortion. Talking about abortion to a group of 120 17 and 18 year olds struck me as risky business. Would they react against what I had to say, or would they ‘merely’ be bored...
No fewer than seven judges of the European Court of Human Rights issued a partial dissent from the court’s ruling on Tuesday in favour of a lesbian couple where one partner wished to adopt the biological child of the other. The case is called ‘X and others v Austria’ and as was argued in our...
The European Court of Human Rights seems to have difficulty treating different situations differently. That much is clear from its ruling in the case of X and Others v. Austria. Instead the court wants to pretend that different situations are the same. Under Austrian law, an unmarried man can seek to adopt his own biological...
Victoria White (pictured) has an excellent piece in today’s Irish Examiner arguing forcefully for the retention of Article 41.2, which deals with women in the home. White makes the excellent-and all too frequently forgotten-point that the article was not designed to keep women in the home, but to protect their rights: “Article 41.2 recognises the...
The University Times (a newspaper at Trinity College Dublin) has apologised unreservedly to David Quinn, Director of The Iona Institute for defamatory remarks made about him in its issue of January 5. The apology is carried in the current issue. No damages were sought by David Quinn. The apology is printed below. David Quinn’s reply...
Yesterday, the Catholic Church’s marriage counselling agency, Accord, released figures which they say demonstrate that there are increasing strains being place upon marriage. The figures show that the number of people using their marriage counselling services increased and that the number of people reporting financial difficulties, communication issues and stress and anxiety overall had gone...
On Tuesday night the House of Commons voted by 400 to 175 in favour of same-sex marriage. Interestingly, among the 175 who voted against were 22 Labour MPs. This was unexpected in that Labour is committed to equality, and same-sex marriage is normally argued for in the name of equality. So why would 22 Labour...
Some of the speakers at the Dublin Castle conference on vulnerable families in Europe, surprisingly admitted that the trends towards more single parent families, more cohabitation, fewer, later and more unstable families were not positive. Unfortunately they were fatalistic as to whether anything could be done about this. The conference was sponsored by EU organisation...
