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Talking to fathers crucial for children's happiness, survey finds
~Talking with their fathers about important topics makes children happier, according to a new study. The study, which coincides with Father's Day, found that young people who said that they talked seriously to their fathers “most days” gave themselves an 87 per cent score on a happiness scale. Read more...
Lesbian ex-partner does not have to pay maintenance
~A lesbian whose former partner bore a child through sperm donation cannot be ordered to pay any maintenance, a High Court judge in the UK ruled yesterday. The former couple never contracted a legal civil partnership and, as the law stands, the woman who did not have the child could not be defined as a 'parent'. Read more...
German court doesn’t recognise Canadian same-sex ‘marriage’
~A German court has said that a same-sex marriage performed in Canada could only be considered a civil partnership in Germany. The case bears a striking resemblence to a case taken by a lesbian couple in this jurisdiction. Read more...
Divorce falls in Northern Ireland
~The number of couples divorcing in Northern Ireland has fallen sharply, according to new figures. Almost 2,200 couples officially split last year, nearly 600 fewer than in 2008, new statistics reveal. The decline is being linked by some people to the recession and the decline in the value of couples’ property which has hit the value of the assets they can divide between them. Read more...
Catholic bishops call for free vote on Civil Partnership Bill
~Ireland's Catholic bishops have called for a free vote in the Dáil and Seanad on the Government's controversial Civil Partnership Bill. Read more...
Single parent benefit reform "unconstitutional", says Labour TD
~Proposals to reconfigure the the lone parent allowance scheme may be unconsistutional, according to a senior Labour TD. Read more...
“Mother” is sexist term, new Council of Europe report says
~The portrayal in the media of women as mothers is “sexist” and “a barrier to gender equality”, according to a new report produced for the Council of Europe. Read more...
Ahern says religion doesn't “cloud” his judgement
~Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has said that politicians shouldn't allow religion to “cloud their judgement”. In an interview with the Irish Times, Mr Ahern referred to opposition to the Civil Partnership Bill which he has sponsored. Read more...
Social workers viewed with “ fear and hostility” says expert
~HSE social workers “are regarded with fear and hostility in many communities, particularly those that are most deprived,” according to a leading Irish expert in social policy and social work. Writing in yesterday's Irish Times, Dr Helen Buckley of Trinity College Dublin said that a 2008 report published by the office of the Minister of State for Children demonstrated that social workers had a negative image. Read more...
Inter-faith marriages three times as likely to break-up
~Inter-faith marriages are three times more likely to experience break-up compared to single religion marriages, according to a story in The Washington Post. Read more...
Study of lesbian parenting attacked as ‘flawed’
~A new study purporting to show that children raised by lesbian couples fare better than those in other families has been described as “inherently unreliable”. Read more...
Religion set for a comeback, says political scientist
~Contrary to beliefs that the march of secularism is unstoppable, religion is set to make a comeback in Europe and strengthen in the rest of the world, an audience in Dublin heard last night. Speaking at a lecture hosted by the Iona Institute and the Irish Catholic, Dr Eric Kaufmann said that higher birthrates and immigration would lead, over the next century, to a more religious Europe. Read more...
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West facing moral ‘civil war’ says academic
~The West is facing a “Civil War” over values and religion, according to a leading Spanish academic. Professor Francisco Contreras, of Seville University, said that in both Europe and the US the big issues of the 21st century would be family structure, bioethics and the role of religion in society. Read more...
NI Churches in row with Charity Commission over religious freedom
~Northern Ireland church leaders believe that the Charity Commission’s draft guidance could threaten the charitable status of churches. Read more...
HSE in talks with Government over child deaths
~Government ministers and HSE officials are set for a crisis meeting today to discuss newly released figures showing that at least 188 young people in HSE care, or in contact with social services, have died in the past decade. Read more...
Ireland opts-out of EU divorce plan
~Ireland has opted out of a new EU family law scheme, approved by European justice ministers, under which a group of member states can recognise each other's divorce laws. The new arrangement will allow couples where the spouses are from different countries to choose the legal system under which they wish to divorce or separate, the Irish Times reports. Read more...
Obama calls for repeal of pro-marriage law
~President Barack Obama has called for the repeal of the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. Read more...
FF/FG Senators back conscience amendment
~A group of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael senators have called for a conscience clause to the added to the Civil Partnership Bill. They were joined by other senators who called on their parties to allow a free vote on the issue. Read more...
Ten countries join Italy in opposing crucifix-ban decision
~A record 10 States, not including Ireland, have joined the case against a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights ruling last November that Italian state schools were breaching religious freedom by having crucifixes in classrooms. Read more...
Reported domestic violence increases
~Thirteen women and 12 children an hour, on average, sought refuge from domestic violence on one day in November last year, a new report has shown. Read more...
New study finds sperm-donor children suffer identity problems
~Young adults conceived through sperm donation are hurting more, are more confused, and feel more isolated from their families compared to their naturally conceived peers, a ground-breaking new study on donor conception has found. Read more...
EU states move to harmonise divorce laws
~A new proposal to harmonise divorce laws among a group of EU member-state has been criticised by a leading international pro-family organisation, the Alliance Defence Fund. The Maltese government has also expressed concern about the move. Currently, divorce is illegal in Malta. Read more...
Receptionist takes legal action against school over disciplinary action
~A primary school receptionist in the UK is taking legal action against her employers after they disciplined her for asking friends to pray about the school’s treatment of her daughter. Lawyers representing Jennie Cain have lodged papers with Exeter employment tribunal claiming that she has suffered religious discrimination, harassment and victimisation. The claim is brought against the governing body of Landscore Primary School and the school’s head teacher Mr Gary Read. A claim is also brought against Devon County Council for aiding the discrimination. Mrs Cain’s daughter Jasmine was attending the school. In January this year, then aged five, she was reprimanded by her class teacher for talking about her Christian faith to another child. The school has said the five-year-old had frightened another child by talking about hell. It has since come to light that the conversation between the children was never witnessed by any adult and took place around October time the previous year. On hearing that her daughter had been reprimanded for expressing her faith, Mrs Cain sent a private email to church friends and family asking them to pray about the incident. The email was sent from Mrs Cain’s home computer, outside work time, using her personal email account. But the email ended up in the hands of head teacher Gary Read who launched an investigation against Mrs Cain for professional misconduct. A panel of school governors decided to discipline Mrs Cain by issuing her a final written warning. This was reduced to a written warning on appeal. However, the legal papers lodged with the Employment Tribunal claim that the decision to discipline Mrs Cain is part of ongoing hostility to her Christian faith by her employers. The legal papers also claim that the governors sitting on the appeal panel had wanted to remove the warning from Mrs Cain’s record completely but were blocked from doing so by staff from Devon County Council’s Human Resources Department. It is further claimed that school’s disciplinary procedure was not properly followed. Mrs Cain was told to stay away from work for four months. The legal papers claim that, upon her return to work, Mrs Cain has continued to suffer religious discrimination and harassment. She also suffered victimisation on account of her taking legal action. The Christian Institute’s Mike Judge said: “We support Jennie’s decision to take legal action. “Her case is important because it highlights a wider problem. I am sad to say that a number of Christians, particularly those who work in the public sector, have been disciplined for expressing their faith. “If Jennie was from a different religious background I believe her employers would have handled her situation differently.” Read more...
Lone parent benefits cut in line with OECD report
~Lone parents are set to lose their benefits when their youngest child reaches the age of 13 rather than the current 22 under controversial proposals outlined at the weekend by Minister for Social Protection, Eamon O Cuiv (pictured). The proposals are broadly in line with recommendations contained in an OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) report published in 2009. Read more...
Children’s referendum could take place in October
~A draft wording for a referendum on children's rights is set to be brought before the Government by the end of June, the Dáil was told yesterday. It is also understood that the referendum could be held as early October, and it may coincide with by-elections in Waterford, Donegal South-West and Dublin South. Read more...
Irish Daily Mail backs conscience clause for Civil Partnership Bill
~The Daily Mail has given its support to amending the Civil Partnership Bill to protect freedom of conscience and religion. In an editorial in today's paper, it says that the provision in the Bill which criminalises civil registrars for refusing to carry out civil unions is “ridiculous and unfair”. Read more...
Nearly half of first births outside marriage: CSO
~Nearly half of all first births in Ireland take place outside marriage, new figures have shown. According to data from the Central Statistics Office, published today, almost 44 per cent of births to first time mothers were outside wedlock. Read more...
Church of Ireland bishop welcomes Civil Partnership Bill
~A senior Church of Ireland bishop has that the Civil Partnership Bill “deserves to be welcomed”. However, writing in his diocesan newsletter, Bishop Michael Burrows of Cashel and Ossory said that he was aware of members of his diocese who were “concerned about the position of some civil registrars who may have conscientious difficulties in implementing it”. Read more...
Home Secretary does U-turn on same sex adoption
~The Home Secretary and the Minister for Women and Equalities, Mrs Theresa May, has said that she has done a U-turn on same-sex adoption and now in favour of it. Her announcement comes as the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition publishes a document which reveals that the Government is committed to pushing homosexual ‘rights’ on other countries. Read more...
Family structure key to children's economic mobility: study
~Family structure is a key factor in the economic mobility of children with the married family being most beneficial and divorce particularly harmful for children's mobility, a new US study shows. The new findings come in a paper by the Pew Economic Mobility Project. Read more...
Hold referendum on civil partnerships – Senator Hanafin
~The Government should hold a referendum on the Civil Partnership Bill, according to Senator John Hanafin of Fianna Fail. Speaking in the Seanad this week, Senator Hanafin asked the Leader of the House to hold a debate on a referendum which he believed would be defeated. Read more...
Mary Coughlan wants Church to give up some of its schools
~Speaking yesterday in the Dáil, she said this option was originally suggested by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in the context of the overall number of primary schools in his Dublin archdiocese. The suggestion had actually been made by Bishop Leo O’Reilly on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference prior to that. Read more...
Conference hears about legal difficulties of surrogacy
~A seminar to promote surrogacy has been held in Dublin, organised by the Family Lawyers Association. The meeting discussed some of the legal difficulties with surrogacy which involves women agreeing to have children on behalf of third parties, a practice condemned by some critics as exploitative and for deliberately separating a child from its birth mother. Read more...
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Cross-party senators defend Church schools
~The clerical abuse scandals should not be used as a pretext to call into question the Church's role in education, senators from both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael said yesterday. Responding to a call by Senator Ivana Bacik that the clerical abuse scandals should lead to a debate on Church patronage of primary schools, senators from both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael condemned the call. Read more...
New guidelines on end-of-life treatment could threaten Catholic doctors
~Catholic doctors in the UK face being struck off the medical register there if they observe their conscience by ignoring the wishes of terminally ill patients who want to die by refusing food and water, the General Medical Council (GMC) is to announce. Read more...
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