Michael Nugent of Atheist Ireland, has presented the usual litany of discrimination allegedly suffered by atheists and religious minorities in Ireland in an article for The Irish Times this week. He calls a more secular state. But what kind of secular State? The kind he wants would have almost no place for religion in public...
It could “disturb the conscience of women who, in accordance with the law, have made personal life choices”, the court in France ruled last November. What might “disturb” their consciences? The answer is an ad which tells mothers carrying a Down Syndrome baby in their wombs that life with a Down Syndrome child can be...
Have we reached peak anti-Catholicism in Ireland? Perhaps I’m being optimistic, but I have a feeling the answer might be yes. In the last few weeks we have had story after story that has ignited and then reignited the tremendous reservoir of anger that exists in this country towards the Catholic Church. This might make...
In 2015, Ireland passed one of the most radical ‘gender recognition’ laws in the world. The law said your body and your sex (or ‘gender’) are totally unrelated to one another. That law applied only to people aged 18 and over. An amendment will now extend the law to those aged 16 and over, but...
The stories we find most shocking are the ones that offend our deepest values. However, because it is liberals who dominate the public space, it is the stories which shock them, that get the most attention. Other, equally shocking stories get almost no attention, like this story about the company that has turned embryos into a form of...
Fintan O’Toole in his Irish Times column this week ridiculed the very idea of having an ethos and mocked Catholics for having one, but can anyone really live without an ethos? O’Toole thinks that ‘ethos’ is a Latin word. He has either never read or has forgotten about Aristotle’s Ethics, one the foundational texts of...
We are pleased to be able to announce that 22 TDs and Senators have signed a letter addressed to Foreign Affairs Minister, Charlie Flanagan, urging the Government to recognise ISIS attacks on Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria as a form of genocide. The letter was drafted and circulated by The...
Maria Steen of The Iona Institute was on RTE’s Drivetime on Monday evening to discuss the recommendations by the Citizens’ Assembly in favour of a very wide-ranging liberalisation of our abortion laws to bring them more in line with Britain’s. Her contribution can be heard here.
Colm O’Gorman spoke at the last meeting of the Citizens’ Assembly and made some remarkable comments about abortion rates and Ireland. Will they stand a close scrutiny? The short answer is, no. He said: “Countries with more liberal abortion laws generally have a lower rate of abortions. If you look at the European standards, one...
The Catholic Church is rightly excoriated for its past failure to properly protect children from sexual abuse by clergy. Its moral authority has been severely damaged by these scandals. The United Nations is another organisation that is often placed on a pedestal. When a UN committee accuses Ireland of a human rights violation, we take...
