At their press conference on Wednesday, NPHET members were asked why their advice is that public worship should not take place under Level 3 of the Government’s living with Covid plan. Dr Ronan Glynn said their view is that activities considered “less important” to society “in the context of a pandemic” should cease in that level....
By Eamonn Gaines The renewed lockdowns in Ireland, and in the UK, are causing more worry than the original ones back in March. The draconian punishments handed out by the police and others are causing more disquiet as well. Now the attempts at “Track and Trace” are being criticised too. These apps are intended...
HOW many Catholics were attending Mass before the pandemic began? How many have returned in the meantime? How many will come back when this is all over? These were some of the vital questions asked in a new Iona Institute poll conducted by Amarach Research. Here are the main findings: 27pc of Catholics were attending...
Another ban on public worship has been imposed in Dublin. It is the only city in Europe, and certainly the only capital city, where no-one will be allowed to take part in public worship this weekend, including cities where the infection rate is much higher than in Dublin. Other countries judge such a move to...
A Private Members’ Bill permitting Assisted Suicide has been introduced to the Dail today by Gino Kenny TD. Some media reports say the Bill has strong safeguards and is limited in scope. This is totally false. Its definition of ‘terminal illness’ is incredibly broad, a person does not have to be within a few months...
A Private Members’ Bill seeking to permit assisted suicide will be debated in the Dáil next week. It is proposed by Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny. The last time when this issue was discussed in Leinster House, three years ago, some of the strongest opposition came from the members of the medical profession and...
We’re all having to change the way we do things during this pandemic. The Government’s advice now extends even to sex, which probably makes sense, seeing as it is a bit difficult to socially distance when ‘in the act’. If your sexual partner lives in the same house as you, then you’re in the clear....
An article in the prestigious journal, ‘Foreign Affairs’, reckons religion is in decline in much of the world, and not just in rich countries, and this is no bad thing because it is not resulting in increased crime and corruption as some religious leaders would have predicted. But this is misleading, for reasons to be...
The debate about assisted suicide is heating up in Ireland again with a Private Member’s Bill due to come before the Dail that seeks to permit the procedure under certain circumstances. At the core of this debate is the very dangerous assumption that death by a form of suicide is compatible with human dignity. Dignity...
By Jim Stack MSc PhD Two years ago, I wrote an Iona blog comparing historical abortion ratios in Ireland and Portugal. My main purpose at the time was to predict what would happen to abortion numbers in Ireland following repeal of the Eighth Amendment, based on Portuguese experience before and after they legalised abortion in...
