Ireland has been a “clear outlier” in Europe for having a relatively large average household size, according to new research published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

The country has a higher fertility rate than most EU countries even though it is now well below replacement level. It also has a younger population and higher share of households with children.

The ESRI research compared the trends in household size in the Republic with other European countries for the period 2005-2021.

The average number of people per household in Ireland was 2.74 in the 2022 census. Across Europe the average figure was 2.2 members per household that same year.

“Ireland is a very clear outlier for much of the period with consistently high household size levels; since 2011 onwards Ireland has had the highest level of average household size of all the countries presented,” the report says.

It adds that Ireland is highest alongside Spain, Portugal and Greece.

The Nordic countries of Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and also Germany have the lowest.

The Conservative Government is to axe a cap on faith-based admissions to religious schools that restricts them to offering at most, only half their places to children of faith.

The Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, it will encourage faith schools to expand and create more “high-quality” places for school children.

Under current rules, any new faith schools that are oversubscribed can only prioritise pupils based on faith for 50 per cent of its places.

When the cap was introduced, it was argued that it would stop the proliferation of hardline religious schools. However, ministers feel that the cap has had little impact in that regard and instead had the undesired effect of preventing Catholic schools from expanding.

The Catholic Church has argued that turning away children of faith for non-Catholic children was incompatible with canon law. The Catholic education service refused to participate in the free schools programme until the Government relented and repealed the cap.

Officials at the Department for Education believe lifting the cap will encourage Catholic schools – which are often highly sought after by parents – to set up new institutions and expand their existing provision by joining multi-academy trusts.

A large number of MPs spoke against legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia at a debate prompted by a mass petition in the House of Commons Monday.

Many of the speakers raised serious concerns that the elderly, sick and vulnerable would be pressurised into ending their lives for fear of being a burden.

Commenting on the exchanges, spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said it appears to be a policy area in which there is a genuine debate and openness of mind.

“Labour’s Shadow Minister for Disabilities Vicky Foxcroft, who voted in favour of assisted suicide in 2015, has since changed her mind and now opposes the practice due to concerns raised by people with disabilities who fear they will be adversely affected by a change in legislation”, she said.

“This particular debate is largely symbolic but is an opportunity for MPs and the public to learn from the mistakes of other jurisdictions such as Canada, where safeguards are rapidly being eroded including the removal of the requirement that a person be terminally ill to be eligible for an ‘assisted death’ and the planned expansion of ‘assisted dying’ on the grounds of mental illness alone from 2027”.

A proposal to criminalise “influence” in public spaces near abortion facilities was debated in the Scottish parliament yesterday, despite warnings from free speech campaigners that such legislation could result in “thoughtcrime” prosecutions as seen in England.

The Bill was launched by Gillian McKay MSP of the Scottish Green Party, who are no longer members of a coalition government following First Minister, Humza Yousaf’s decision to dissolve the Bute House Agreement last week.

The Stage One debate comes despite 77% of respondents to the Scottish Parliament consultation opposing the introduction of so-called “buffer zones”.

Lois McLatchie Miller of ADF UK commented on the odd juxtaposition of pushing an extreme piece of social legislation even as the Government is on the brink of falling: “Following the international embarrassment marking the launch of the recent ‘hate speech’ law, the last thing Scotland needs is more censorial legislation. Yet, even amidst the chaos of a collapsing Yousaf administration, our parliament continues to push measures which could see citizens criminalised for engaging in peaceful conversations, or even offering help”.

An official petition with more than 203,000 signatures has triggered a parliamentary debate in the UK on legalising assisted suicide.

Critics have decried the debate as ‘ideological’ and lamented the lack of focus on palliative care.

The petition calls on the Government to allocate time for ‘assisted dying’ to be fully debated in the House of Commons and to allow a vote on the issue.

It adds: “Terminally ill people who are mentally sound and near the end of their lives should not suffer unbearably against their will.”

However, Dr Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of the campaign group Care Not Killing, said: “Instead of discussing this dangerous and ideological policy, we should be talking about how to fix the UK’s broken and patchy palliative care system so everyone can have a dignified death.”

Responding to the petition, the Ministry of Justice said assisted suicide “is a matter for Parliament to decide and an issue of conscience for individual parliamentarians rather than one for government policy”.

The Petitions debate will not end with a binding vote.

MPs last voted on assisted suicide in 2015. That bill was defeated by 330 votes to 118.

Catholic bishops from four EU countries have issued a new pastoral letter in advance of the European Parliament elections in June.

Adopting a pro-EU stance, the bishops have urged people to “improve it with the tools that democracy offers us” and to “choose candidates who support the European project”.

The bishops recall the foundations of European integration and the issues it faces today, including national, geopolitical, economic, and migratory crises.

Confronted with this “crisis of European consciousness”, they say there is a need for “a new breath to choose unity in diversity and solidarity with individuals”. The prelates refer to a “European humanism” which they say encompasses the values shared by all Europeans and which should guide voting in the upcoming elections.

In particular, the Catholic leaders highlight a “humanism of dialogue” and an openness “to foreigners and migrants,”, while warning against the temptation of “closing off” one’s borders.

During the unveiling of the document, the bishops paid special tribute to Robert Schuman, a sainthood candidate who was declared “Venerable” in 2021.

Younger staff in Catholic schools are less likely to believe in God, according to new research, but it is still a clear majority at 67pc.

The study found widespread ignorance around key documents which set out the vision and purpose of Catholic schools, with up to 80 per cent of school staff either unsure or not aware of these publications.

While the proportion of school staff who say they believe in God is more than 90 per cent among the over-50s, it falls to 67 per cent among those under the age of 30.

Similarly, the proportion of self-declared Catholics who attend mass once a week is 41 per cent, while among the under 40s it falls to 18 per cent.

At primary level, more than half of teachers in Catholic schools “do not believe in a personal God” and under half, 49 per cent, state that they are “not committed and practising Catholics”.

The report notes that most children in Catholic primary schools are being prepared for the sacraments by staff who describe themselves as being other than practising Catholics.

In Catholic secondary schools, one third of religion teachers are not committed and practising Catholics.

The study was undertaken by a team of academic researchers based at Mary Immaculate College and the Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education, as part of the Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education project.

The creation of abortion buffer zones which could potentially criminalise “private thoughts” has advanced in the Scottish Parliament.

The proposed “safe access zones” would extend 200 meters around any facility in which abortions are performed and could be extended even further upon request.

The Scottish Parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee published its “Stage 1” report, expressing broad support for the proposed law.

While the Committee recognizes the “right to protest and private thought as a cornerstone of a free democracy”, it notes that any extension of ‘safe access zones’ or similar prohibition of vigils or protests “would require additional and separate primary legislation and the scrutiny and proportionality assessments that accompany it”.

The report states that the committee had extensive discussion on the issue of silent prayer and “remains unclear how the intent of those silently praying can be interpreted.”

The committee admits that “it could be difficult for the police to reach a clear decision whether the law has been broken by people standing silently praying, in the absence of any other behaviour.”

A debate and vote in the Scottish Parliament scheduled to take place April 30.

The National Women’s Council (NWC) is pushing a European Citizens’ Initiative to gather one million signatures to demand easier access to abortion across the EU.

The aim is to circumvent restrictions on abortion in some states by paying for people to have the procedure done in other, more permissive states.

The ‘My Voice, My Choice’ petition asks the European Commission to “submit a proposal for financial support to Member States that would be able to perform safe termination of pregnancies for anyone in Europe who still lacks access to safe and legal abortion.”

NWC director Orla O’Connor said: “Across Europe, more than 20 million women do not have access to abortion. Here in Ireland, in spite of the success of Repeal, hundreds of women are still forced to travel abroad for care.

“The mandatory three day wait, 12-week limit, and ongoing criminalisation of medics all feed into this situation.

“That’s why we’re joining with sister organisations in Slovenia, France, Spain, Finland, Poland, Austria and Croatia to demand reproductive justice across the continent.”

The European Parliament has broadened the definition of human trafficking beyond labour and sexual exploitation to include the exploitation of surrogacy, forced marriage and illegal adoption.

The EU Council needs to formally approve the agreement. Member states will then have two years to implement its provisions.

MEPs voted on Tuesday with 563 in favour, 7 against, and 17 abstentions to expand the scope of current measures to combat and prevent human trafficking.

The directive says that while some of the newly added practices may already be covered by anti-trafficking laws, they should be recognised as such explicitly.

It continues: “More specifically, as regards trafficking for the exploitation of surrogacy, this Directive targets those who coerce or deceive women into acting as surrogate mothers. The amendments to Directive 2011/36/EU made by this Directive are without prejudice to the definitions of marriage, adoption, forced marriage and illegal adoption, or to those of offences related thereto other than trafficking, where provided for in national or international law. Those rules are also without prejudice to the national rules on surrogacy, including criminal law or family law.”