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...
Is standing up for conscience now a criminal offence in the West? The term “prisoner of conscience” may not have been invented by Amnesty International, but that organisation probably did more than any other to popularise it. Formed in 1961, it was notable for encouraging its members to write to governments on both sides of...
In case you didn’t know, Mary O’Rourke is an ‘agony aunt’ for The Irish Independent weekend magazine. This weekend, she was giving advice to a woman who had an abortion after a one-night stand. The woman describes how she had her abortion five years ago. She says she “already feels guilty” about it and the...
