A Court in Italy has ruled for the first time that two women should be named as the parents of a child on its birth certificate, with both specifically recognised as mothers, even though only one is naturally the mother of the child. No father is to be mentioned on the birth cert. The Court’s reasoning also raised eyebrows for claiming that not recognising both women as mothers on the certificate would “violate the fundamental rights of the child”. The lower court in Pisa that issued the ruling will now await confirmation from the Italian Constitutional Court before implementing its decree, as the judgement is contrary to legislation in this matter that expressly prohibited what the judge ruled is required by justice.
The Social Democratic Party in Sweden has proposed banning all religious schools (known as “confessional schools”) in the country. The party, who are in a coalition government with the Green Party, have expressed concern that confessional schools contribute to the segregation of students, by religion and gender, and that they don’t teach children democratic values. “In our schools, teachers and principals should make the decisions, not priests or imams,” Minister for Upper Secondary School and Adult Education and Training Anna Ekstrom said at a press conference. The Social Democrats said last week that the proposed policy would be a priority if they were re-elected in a general election due this coming September.
Catholic educators have reacted with shock and dismay. They are concerned that the proposal would constitute an even more wide-ranging infringement on religious freedom in what is already a heavily-restricted religious education in the country. Religious schools cannot charge tuition, and must depend on government funding.
“There is a very negative public debate with a lot of pre-judgements against us and religion in general. We are very worried of course as the proposal is an aggressive assault against our Catholic community,” Paddy Maguire, principal of Notre Dame Catholic School in Gothenburg (located about 300 miles southwest of Stockholm), and Daniel Szirányi, a board member of the same school, said in a joint statement.
Religious education in the country is already under strict restrictions. Current law in Sweden does not allow for catechesis or prayer to take place during regular school hours – it must take place either before or after school, on a purely voluntary basis.
The first stage of the bill to hold an abortion referendum passed the Dail with 120 voting in favour and 32 against. The bill will now proceed to the committee stage to be scrutinised in greater detail. The vast majority of Fianna Fail TDs voted against the legislation while just two Fine Gael TDs opposed the measure – Peter Fitzpatrick from Louth and Dun Laoghaire TD Sean Barrett. Sinn Féin TD Carol Nolan opposed the legislation and will now face disciplinary action from her party. Meath TD Peadar Toibin who also opposes repeal was not present for the vote as he was unable to attend.
Earlier on Wednesday Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Government will respect the result of the May abortion referendum and would not immediately call for a rerun of the vote if it were lost. “If the referendum is defeated, the Government will respect that decision and will not bring forward a proposal for a new referendum during the period of this Government.”
Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty has said Repeal campaigners will not accept a No vote in the forthcoming abortion referendum.
“The people who have brought us, and who have been very vocal on this issue for a number of years, they are certainly not going to accept a No,” Ms Doherty told The Irish Times in Paris, where she was attending St Patrick’s Day events.
She refused to say whether the Government would call a second poll in the event of a rejection, but she did say she envisaged the pro-choice movement would strongly push for one.
She also referred to her previous pro-life views, based on her Catholic faith, as being “born out of ignorance”.
“It was only when I informed myself that I realised just how ignorant I actually was,” she said.
Pro-life groups reacted with shock and dismay to her remarks, with Savethe8th calling them “repugnant and disgraceful” and the Pro-Life Campaign describing them as showing contempt towards voters.
Pubs who acted in concert to remain closed on Good Friday have been warned by the Competition authority that they may be in breach of laws against the operation of cartels.
A spokeswoman for the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) said: “In recent weeks we have become aware of reports concerning a small number of publicans deciding not to open on Good Friday, March 30. The opening hours of a pub are a matter for each publican to decide. Publicans should decide individually and not collectively, the terms and conditions under which they are willing to provide goods or services to customers. The CCPC reminds all publicans that under competition law, they are obliged to make commercial decisions, including their opening hours for business, independently.”
The CCPC has contacted the representative bodies for pubs, the Licensed Vintners Association and the Vintners Federation of Ireland to remind their members that, as businesses, they have obligations under competition law.
The Vintners Association was a big proponent of the recent change in the law to allow pubs open and sell alcohol on Good Friday, if they so wished.
The latest figures from the UK show 1,272 women registered to have fertility treatment without a partner in 2016 – up from 942 in 2014 – the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has said.
This figure represents a jump of 35% in the space of two years. Commenting on the latest figures, Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director of Create Fertility, a private IVF specialist, said: “More and more women are opting to start a family as single women either because they have not found a suitable partner or their partner is not ready to start a family. They are conscious that their biological clock is ticking and they do not want to lose out on genetic motherhood. There are also some women who are supported by their parents financially and emotionally to go it alone when they do not have a partner.”
Many of the main groups campaigning to repeal the Eighth Amendment refused to respond to a survey from RTE’s Prime Time concerning the sources of their funding. Prime Time reporter, Richard Downes, revealed that the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment declined to provide any details of the source of its funding or its spending plans, and it also refused interview requests. The Abortion Rights Campaign, which returned a €23,450 donation from George Soros’ Open Societies Foundation following a request from the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO), declined to take part in the survey. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties who in the recent past received €11 million in donations from Atlantic Philanthropies, also declined to outline their funding for the referendum campaign.
By contrast, all the mainstream groups campaigning to retain the Eighth Amendment, namely Savethe8th, the Pro-Life Campaign, Life Institute and the Iona Institute were forthcoming.
A spokesperson for Savethe8th, said that repeal groups were “treating voters with contempt” by their refusal to answer reasonable questions from RTE’s Prime Time programme about their funding.
The Pro Life Campaign has said it is “extremely concerned” about the new guidelines issued by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland which do not oblige broadcasters to adhere to a strict 50:50 division of time during on-air debates in the lead up to the referendum on the Eighth Amendment.
Commenting on the BAI decision, PLC spokesperson Dr Ruth Cullen said the guidelines raises questions about whether the BAI itself is fit for purpose and can be relied upon to ensure fairness and objectivity in public broadcasting. “This body cannot be naïve to the fact that most broadcasters are already very one-sided in the way they cover the abortion issue. The new guidelines do nothing but exacerbate the problem”.
She continued: “The latest decision of the BAI raises very serious issues regarding the way public broadcasting operates in this country and the lack of commitment to fairness. You wouldn’t need to know very much about how the media works to spot how the latest BAI decision will be exploited by those in broadcasting who are more committed to their own personal ideological positions than to impartial and objective reporting.
“If we don’t receive satisfactory assurances in the coming days about how the guidelines will operate in practice, we will consider whatever options necessary to bring fairness to the debate.”
IN a follow up statement, spokesperson Cora Sherlock said the new guidelines creates confusion, not clarity, and will allow “more wriggle room for bias”.
