Dr Suzanne Crowe, President of the Irish Medical Council (IMC), appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying on Tuesday and defended their extremely controversial decision to remove the prohibition on doctors deliberately ending a patient’s life from the Council’s ethical code. She denied the charge that the move helps pave the way for euthanasia...
The Supreme Court has handed down its judgement in the case of John O’Meara & Ors. (Applicants/Appellants) v The Minister for Social Protection, Ireland and the Attorney General. For the purpose of this blog, I shall confine myself to just one point, but a very important one, which has to do with the meaning of...
The Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying continues to hold hearings. On Tuesday it heard from representatives of disability groups. Peter Kearns (pictured), the representative from the Independent Living Movement observed that debates about euthanasia and assisted suicide can easily “trigger commentary with eugenic overtones”. He said that lack of necessary resources and of societal acceptance will...
Anti-Christian crimes in Europe are increasing, according to a recent report by the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC). For example, it says that arson attacks on churches increased by 75pc in 2022 compared with 2021. In 2022, OIDAC recorded 749 anti-Christian hate crimes across 30 European countries. Notably, there were...
You have not read the headline on this piece incorrectly. In a huge and almost unnoticed change to the code of conduct that governs doctors in Ireland, new ethical guidelines from the Irish Medical Council no longer include a prohibition against the deliberate killing of a patient. The prohibition on doctors deliberately killing patients is old-age. What has taken...
A new report called ‘Faith and Wellness’ confirms that religious people are more positive in their mentality, have more social support and are more involved in their communities. “An estimated 160 million more adults have positive experiences than would be the case if those adults were not religious.”, says the report, which is based on...
Palliative care doctors in Ireland and the UK were before the Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying last week and very firmly and eloquently explained why they are against euthanasia. It is extremely noteworthy that the group of doctors who are the most dedicated by reason of their branch of medicine to those nearing the end...
Family breakdown is one of the chief reasons why many people in Britain remain in poverty and cannot climb up the social ladder, according to a major new report called “Two nations”, published by the Centre for Social Justice. The essential argument is that social disadvantage contributes to family breakdown, and in turn makes it...
David Quinn was on The Hard Shoulder yesterday to outline the concerns of the Iona Institute about the upcoming referendums in March about the family and carers. The first one is set to further downgrade the importance of marriage to society, and the second deletes the requirement that mothers not be forced out of the...
Assisted suicide should be available on demand to any adult who wants it, the Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying has heard. This is the direct equivalent, applied to assisted suicide and euthanasia, of demands from the abortion lobby that a termination of pregnancy be available to women for any reason. The call came from Philip...
