The number of Irish journalists declaring no religious affiliation, 55%, is four times higher than the general population at 14%, a Dublin City University study found.

Of the 35% who declared an affiliation, the vast majority (89%) identified as Catholic and 4% as Church of Ireland. Non-denominational Christianity, Quaker, Hindu and Buddhist were also noted by a small number.

‘Religious groups and institutions’ are considered the least influential factor/source for Irish journalists, with just 1% saying they are ‘very/extremely influential’, 17% saying ‘slightly/moderately influential’, and 48% saying ‘not influential’.

The remaining 34% of respondents said they were not relevant to their work or did not answer, the study ‘Irish Journalists at Work’ shows.

The study also shows that Irish journalists are overwhelmingly left-leaning in their political outlook, with 61% of journalists identifying as ‘fairly/very’ left wing or ‘slightly’ left of centre.

A new study has claimed that the cost to employ someone to do the work of a stay-at-home parent would be around €54,000 per year.

The research is from life insurance and pension provider Royal London Ireland and shows the estimated stay-at-home salary is up from 2022’s €53,480.

The yearly ‘Stay-at-Home Parent Survey’ reveals that more than 90% of people underestimate the monetary value of a stay-at-home parent with only 8% valuing the job at over €50k.

The survey of 1,000 adults estimated the potential salary of a stay-at-home parent at an average of €30,547 in 2023, which represents an increase of €2,087 compared to 2022.

A Harvard professor and founder of Boston IVF, Dr. Merle Berger, is being sued for allegedly inseminating a woman with his own sperm instead of an anonymous donor.

Sarah Depoian and her husband went to receive the treatment in 1980 and Berger allegedly promised “to perform an insemination using the sperm of a medical resident who resembled her husband, who did not know her, and whom she did not know. With that understanding, Ms. Depoian consented to the insemination.”

The donor-conceived child, Bester, now 42, used a home DNA test earlier this year and found that Dr. Berger was her biological father.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin told the Dáil Thursday that he’s “very open” to giving “very serious consideration” to the recommendations contained in abortion law review.
These include totally decriminalising abortion, watering down conscience rights, and, scrapping the three-day wait before an abortion.

He did however add the following caution: “We can’t dismiss the fact that we put certain arguments before the people at a given time, not so long ago, and people voted on the basis of those arguments.”

“That said, the review was also contained within the [Termination of Pregnancy] Act,” he added. “We’ve had the review now and we will act on the review and Government will give that active consideration.”

A series of targeted attacks on a Catholic church and convent by the Israeli military in Gaza has been vociferously condemned by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

In a statement, the patriarchate said that, “a sniper of the [Israeli Defense Force] murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family parish in Gaza, where the majority of Christian families have taken refuge since the start of the war.”

“No warning was given, no notification was provided. They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish, where there are no belligerents,” the statement said.

More than 600 people are currently sheltering in Holy Family Catholic parish in Gaza, including most of the city’s small Christian minority, having sought refuge in convents and places of worship.

The patriarchate also said a rocket from an IDF tank “targeted” the convent where the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Mother Teresa, live, which is part of the church compound and which is home to 54 disabled persons.

Despite being designated as a place of worship since the beginning of the current war, the convent’s generator, its only source of electricity, and its fuel stores were destroyed, and the house itself was damaged by the “explosion and massive fire” resulting from the rocket.

The disabled persons living there are now “displaced” and do not have access to the respirators in the convent “that some of them need to survive.”

In response Minister Roderic O’Gorman was unable to address their concerns and said that the courts would define its meaning.

Sinn Fein deputy, Sorca Clarke, said the phrase was “unnecessarily vague” and risks being “open to very different interpretations”.

Another Sinn Féin TD, Réada Cronin, called the wording “strange and weak”, “far too nebulous”, and “open to a multiplicity of interpretations”.

She added: “It is more suited to describing a battery than to complex and sensitive human relationships, never mind Bunreacht na hÉireann”.

Social Democrats leader, Holly Cairns, asked: “What exactly is being defined as a durable relationship under the law?”

In response, Children’s Minister, Roderic O’Gorman said the definition of “durable” that the Government want to put into the Constitution is not influenced by the EU law definition of “durable”.

He added: “We are giving guidance to the courts but the courts can ultimately decide in individual cases, does a relationship represent a durable relationship and therefore constitute protection for the family”.

The Gender Recognition Amendment Bill which would curb the more extreme effects of Ireland’s radical transgender laws, has passed the First Stage unopposed.

Speaking in the Dáil yesterday Aontú Leader and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín said a consequence of the 2015 Gender Recognition Act is that it allows biological men who identify as women to be placed in women’s prisons, even those “who have been jailed for horrific sexual offences”.

He gave the example of a Barbie Kardashian who “was found guilty of threatening to kill, rape and torture his mother”.

“Kardashian was granted a gender recognition certificate by the Department of Social Protection and as a result was placed in a women’s prison”, he said.

“This was a horrendous dereliction of duty by this government in terms of the protection of women and this Aontú Bill is designed simply to prevent male born criminals being placed into Women’s Prisons. Our Bill provides that a gender recognition certificate does not affect whether a person is deemed male or female for the purpose of applying the existing rule as to single-sex accommodation in prisons”.

Medics who care for the dying have warned an Oireachtas committee against euthanasia.

Professor Regina McQuillan told the committee that the Irish Palliative Medicine Consultants Association is “fundamentally opposed to the introduction of assisted dying, assisted suicide or euthanasia”.

The Joint Committee on Assisted Dying was examining the potential impact legalising euthanasia could have on palliative care.

“My question to the committee is, what percentage of incorrect deaths would be acceptable to legalise assisted suicide?” Matthew Doré of the Association of Palliative Medicine asked.

He pointed to “consistent surveys and polls” showing that “upwards of 82% of our membership are against this legislation”, as they believe that “inevitably there will be incorrect deaths” if it is introduced.

These could include people with an incorrect or unpredictable medical diagnosis, those struggling with mental health issues or “fluctuating autonomy”, or someone who is being subjected to elder abuse, Dr Doré said.

With 366 votes in favour and 145 against, the European Parliament approved today a ‘European Certificate of Parenthood’.

However, the EU Council, composed of the Heads of Member States, is not bound to follow this advice.

Critics slammed the proposal for enabling commercial surrogacy and called on national Governments to ignore it.

FAFCE President, Vincenzo Bassi, said that “Member States should not follow the advice of the European Parliament. The latter – with today’s vote – clearly goes against the principle of subsidiarity, ignoring the exclusive competence of Member States and its own explicit condemnation of the practice of surrogacy”.

“In this proposal, the European Parliament plans to limit the possibility for EU Member States to refuse to recognise parenthood established in another Country. The draft regulation would enable parenthood as established in a EU Member State to be recognised throughout the EU, including in situations such as surrogacy”, he said.

An article promoting a “Satanic Abortion Ceremony” appeared last month in a leading pop culture magazine for young women.

Among pieces dedicated to fashion and lifestyle advice, Cosmopolitan published a feature article provided by the Satanic Temple abortion clinic, an online facility based in New Mexico that provides abortion pills via mail and is run by Satanists.

A set of slides detailing the procedures for performing a ritualised abortion ceremony in accordance with The Satanic Temple’s guidelines were posted in the article. This involved staring at one’s reflection before taking an abortion pill and saying “One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.” The ritual is completed when the pill is taken and the person has declared “By my body, by my blood; by my will, it is done.”

According to Cosmopolitan, the idea behind this clinic is to defend abortion rights by using religion as justification.