The other day sociologist Tony Fahey was interviewed on Today with Sean O’Rourke (Keelin Shanley standing in) about marriage in Ireland twenty years after the divorce referendum. During that referendum there were the usual accusations and counter-accusations but in some respects both sides were wrong about what would happen. The anti-divorce side warned that allowing...
It gives me no pleasure to note that the discussion around same-sex marriage is continuing to obey what writer and blogger Rod Dreher christened the “Law of Merited Impossibility”, which goes something like this: “legalising same-sex marriage will result in no negative consequences for religious liberty or freedom of conscience – and those bigots will...
Church-run schools, and more specifically Catholic-run schools, are under the spotlight again as a new school year approaches. There is criticism of the slowness of the bishops in handing over a set number of schools to other patron bodies such as Educate Together. However, as Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has pointed out, when a particular school...
The Department of Children has just released a report, Future Investment in Childcare in Ireland, suggesting different ways in day-care becomes more affordable for working parents. Some of the proposals, such as those to extend paid parental leave from six months after the birth of a child to a full year, are very welcome. But...
The question of the place of religion in European public life is a critical one – and a four-year research project into faith and secularisation in Europe finds underlying links between a variety of of different kinds of church-and-state issues. At first glance, Irish Catholics voting for same-sex marriage, British Muslims living according to sharia...
After the US Supreme Court legalised and constitutionalised same-sex marriage in all 50 states last week, there’s been a lot of talk about questions of religious freedom and freedom of conscience. How will dissenters from the new view of marriage fare in the new dispensation? Two pieces of writing, from UK Barrister Neil Addison and...
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recently called for Ireland to hold a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment, which recognises the equal right to life of the unborn. The Committee called for Ireland to legislate for abortion on the grounds of rape, incest and threat to the health of the mother...
Father’s Day is coming up this weekend (21/6) and this article from the Institute for Family Studies shows that a father is more likely to be involved with his children if he is married to the mother of his children. The article cites studies showing that mothers are much more likely than fathers to act...
What do mothers and fathers bring to parenting that is different and complementary? This was one important issue that came up in the recent marriage referendum. Many of those on the Yes side claimed all a child needs is love, but that the sex of the parents per se (and by logical extension the biological...
In a piece in The Irish Times today Laura Slattery basically calls for a total end to the debate about same-sex marriage. She declares: “We have had the debate and the question has been settled”. Slattery then turns her attention to the pesky requirement for balance on the airwaves. Surely we won’t have to have...
