Last night (Mar 19) Archbishop Diarmuid Martin addressed a meeting of The Iona Institute attended by over 200 people. His topic was ‘The Teaching of the Church on Marriage Today’. In the course of the talk he addressed the topic of the nature of marriage. Among his main points were the following: There is something...
The two sides in this referendum debate, so far as I can see, don’t just disagree. They disagree about what it is they are disagreeing about. Most of those I’ve seen arguing for a Yes vote sincerely believe that this is, wholly and solely, a debate about who should be able to get married. Most...
Elizabeth Howard, a woman from England who was conceived through sperm donation, was on the Right Hook programme on Newstalk yesterday (11/3). Howard, who wrote this article for the Guardian last year about the experience of being the child of an anonymous “donor”, made it clear to George Hook that she thought all sperm donation...
In 2010, Argentina legalised same-sex marriage. At the time, Pope Francis was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He voiced his strong opposition to the proposal. This is quite contrary to the common misconception that he is silent on the issue. Since becoming Pope, Francis has reiterated many of the things he said in Argentina. We reproduce...
Fergus Finlay wrote in The Irish Examiner this week about the Children and Family Relationships Bill, and his piece unfortunately follows a familiar template adopted by most of the legislation’s defenders. It goes something like this: 1. Talk about the good bits of the bill 2. Avoid any questions that might be awkward. 3. Assure...
When two different questions get quite different results on the same issue it is a good sign that voter intentions on that issue are volatile. Thus it was that a poll by Red C and another one by Millward Brown on the issue of same-sex marriage and conducted within a week of each other got...
Let’s forget for a moment about the upcoming referendum on same-sex marriage and consider instead the disastrous attitude of our Government and opposition parties towards marriage overall. Taoiseach Enda Kenny summed it up very well last week when he reduced what marriage is all about to two words, “I do”. Enda Kenny, Frances Fitzgerald, Leo...
Frances Fitzgerald’s speech last night introducing the Children and Family Relationships Bill to the Dail was a masterpiece of evasion, in particular when she commented on the aspects of the Bill dealing with Donor Assisted Human Reproduction (DAHR). Here’s what she had to say: “The Bill will not change the rights of most children in terms...
It’s fair to say that Fintan O’Toole doesn’t like the section on the Irish Constitution that deals with the family, that is to say, Article 41. In his column in Tuesday’s Irish Times he associates it with de Valera’s Ireland and finds the article to be more or less incomprehensible. He has a particular objection...
Stephen Fry’s latest attempt to remind the world just how relevant and intelligent he is has brought Irish media legend Gay Byrne into the debate. In his show “The Meaning of Life,” Gay asked Fry what he would say, should he encounter God at the Gates of Heaven (assuming Saint Peter has given him a...
