Press release from The Iona Institute

The action of Ireland in voting against a resolution this week at the UN supporting the family has been described as “unacceptable” by the Director of The Iona Institute, David Quinn.

Ireland, along with other Western countries, voted against the resolution on the ground that it referred to ‘the family’, rather than ‘families’.

However, David Quinn said: “In voting this way, Ireland was effectively voting against one of the UN’s founding documents, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the Irish Constitution itself”.

He stated: “Both of these documents talk about ‘the family’, not ‘families’ they both stress the importance of marriage and they both commit the State to guard the family with special care.”

He asked: “Is Ireland now opposed to guarding the family, especially the family based on mariage, with special care?”

He concluded: “It is unacceptable that Ireland would effectively vote against the UN Declaration of Human Rights and our own Constitution”.

The resolution was put before the UN Human Rights Council by a coalition of non-Western countries and was passed.

ENDS