Today is the deadline for submissions to the Oireachtas Justice Committee concerning Gino Kenny’s ‘Dying with Dignity Bill’. What is happening in other countries that have gone this path becomes more relevant than ever. Euthanasia and assisted suicide were legalised in Canada in 2016 and, since then, the number of patients killed in hospitals and...

Thanks to prenatal screening, far fewer babies with Down Syndrome are being born than was once the case. A recent study shows that across Europe as a whole, the reduction is in the order of half, but in Ireland prior to the introduction of abortion two years ago, it was ‘only’ 8pc, whereas in Spain...

Among the many other things it examines, the report on the Mother and Baby Homes published last week looks at how other countries in the past treated unmarried mothers. It throws a spotlight on how various countries in the first part of the last century promoted eugenics, which frequently targeted unmarried mothers, labelling them ‘feeble-minded’,...

In 2020, New Zealand had great success in protecting its people from Covid-19, a naturally-caused infection, but in a seeming paradox it opened the door to euthanasia, and further liberalised its abortion law, both of which allow for the deliberate killing of human beings. New Zealand was the first country to put euthanasia to a...

The report on the Mother and Baby Homes makes for often disturbing reading. Unmarried mothers were routinely consigned to institutions such as mother and baby or county homes and eventually separated from their children. One organisation followed a different path, namely the Legion of Mary. The report itself acknowledges this. It says: “before the 1970s,...

It goes against the lazy stereotype of the traditionalist, bread-winning male and the subservient wife who does all the housework, but new research has found that men who attend religious services regularly spend more time doing housework than most other men. The other group of men who do more housework than the norm, are non-religious...

Last November, the Iona Institute drew attention to an academic study from University College Cork which strongly indicates that late-term abortions are taking place in Irish hospitals, with the babies sometimes being left to die following a termination. The study was mostly ignored by mainstream media in Ireland but attracted some attention internationally. It was...

The Holy See has recently released an official document stating that, “when ethically irreproachable vaccines are not available, … it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.” This is a reference to the fact that some of the vaccines have in...

Public worship will be effectively banned again in Ireland from St Stephen’s Day because of the increase in Covid case numbers. Leo Varadkar has indicated that the new level 5 restrictions could continue for two months.  The question that must be asked, as always, is whether the move to ban public worship is proportionate given...

Over the course of the pandemic, the Iona Institute has been commissioning opinion polls to ascertain what has happened to religious practice when public worship is not permitted, and how many people returned to church when it was permitted albeit with limits on numbers who can attend. Similar research has been conducted in Northern Ireland,...