The Iona Blog

Suddenly, staying at home with the children is again becoming an attractive option

The entry of women into the workplace in ever-increasing numbers is usually hailed as a great progressive victory. And indeed, the lowering of the barriers that prevent women from choosing to work is a very good thing. But the fact that there has been no corresponding move of men towards spending more time childrearing has...

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Grounds for “assisted suicide” keep on broadening

Writing about the legalisation around the world of “assisted suicide” in 2012, palliative care oncologist José Pereira explained that “laws and safeguards were put in place to prevent abuse and misuse of these practices.  Prevention measures have included…explicit consent by the person requesting euthanasia, mandatory reporting of all cases, administration only by physicians (with the...

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Breda O’Brien debates surrogacy on RTÉ

Breda O’Brien, teacher, Irish Times columnist and Iona Institute patron, recently debated surrogacy with Deirdre Madden of UCC on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke programme. She talked about the recent surrogacy scandals, and emphasised the fact that similar things can and have happened regardless of whether surrogacy is commercial or altruistic. Madden argued that banning surrogacy in...

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The deeply unfashionable things that make people happy

Trying to facilitiate human flourishing and happiness should be among the first goals of any policymaker. In all the endless discussions we have about economic growth, social capital, labour productivity, and debt levels, what we often don’t talk about is the reason we pursue all these policies. The answer is (or should be) very simple...

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A surrogacy scandal, a child abuse scandal or both?

Several terrible surrogacy scandals have come to light recently. The most high profile involved Gammy, a Down’s syndrome baby born to a Thai surrogate mother. The Australian commissioning couple did not want to raise Gammy, only his healthy twin.  A very similar case has just come to light in Britain.  And now we learn that...

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How political correctness helped pave the way for the Rotherham child abuse scandals

The Rotherham child sex abuse scandal that has rocked Britain is the result of half a century of Multiculturalism, moral-relativism and national self-loathing by those driven to guide, protect and improve society.  “Rotherham,” dear reader, will for a long time to come be synonymous with the utter, immoral collapse of Radical social engineering.  Well, one...

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How political correctness helped pave the way for the Rotherham child abuse scandals

The Rotherham child sex abuse scandal that has rocked Britain is the result of half a century of Multiculturalism, moral-relativism and national self-loathing by those driven to guide, protect and improve society.  “Rotherham,” dear reader, will for a long time to come be synonymous with the utter, immoral collapse of Radical social engineering.  Well, one...

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Richard Dawkins has a very odd definition of ‘civilised

Dawkins was at it again recently.  He claimed that Ireland is civilised in all but one aspect: its abortion laws.  He then added that it’s “moral” to abort a baby with Down’s Syndrome. As Dawkins has greyed, his pronouncements have gotten more off the wall.  And I thought wisdom increased with age… Note that he...

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It matters what you do before saying “I Do”

A new study from the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project analyses some of the ingredients that go into lasting, high-quality marriages. By starting with a sample of over 1000 people who were in a relationship but unmarried and tracking them (418 of the individuals got married), the study’s authors were able to analyse how...

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Sperm Donation: Just a Really Bad Idea

The latest UK figures on sperm donation reveal that the “top 500” donors have fathered 6,200 children between them, with 15 of these having more than 20 each. The figures illustrate a simple truth – legalising sperm donation is not a good idea, even if you ban anonymous donation. Let’s review the arguments against sperm...

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