The Government has given an assurance to the bishops that there will be no watering down of the Constitutional rights of the family under a proposed amendment on children’s rights, according to a report in today's Irish Catholic.

Archbishop Sean Brady, Primate of All-Ireland, has welcomed the establishment of the Iona Institute as a “timely initiative”, according to a report in the Irish Catholic newspaper..

For what is believed to be the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one.

The Government's planned referendum on children's rights, which could change as many as three separate articles of the Constitution, may only present voters with one question.

A new longitudinal study of the lives of children in Ireland will include questions about family structure allowing Irish researchers to investigate for the first time and in a meaningful way the effects of family structure on children.

Laws which give cohabiting couples marriage-like rights may not lead to fewer marriages, according to new research.

A lawyer from the firm responsible for the "Unhappy Christmas" ad has apologised. Angela Farrell, a managing partner of Farrell Family Law Solicitors, who were behind the ad, said that regretted any offence caused.

Ireland's divorce laws are in need of "a fundamental examination", according to Fine Gael Senator Fergal Browne. Senator Browne expressed concern that Irish divorces are awarded on a "no fault" basis.

Marriage and prayer are among some of the key factors in people's happiness, a new study commissioned by the UK Government has found. The research, carried out by an economics professor at London's Imperial College, found that people in stable relationships and people who prayed were more content than their fellow citizens.

Two elderly spinster sisters yesterday lost a legal battle to be given the same rights as gay and lesbian couples - meaning one will be forced to sell their home of 40 years when the other dies.

Family breakdown is the key cause of the collapse of social cohesion in the UK. That's according to a major new study published by the Conservative Party. The study, commissioned by former leader Iain Duncan Smith, paints a disturbing picture of the decline of the institution of marriage in Britain. And it details the painful social consequences which have resulted from the phenomenon of family breakdown.

A High Court judge has warned that the evidence showing that children of same sex parents have substantially similar outcomes to those of heterosexual parents is not sufficiently advanced to draw safe conclusions. Justice Elizabeth Dunne was ruling against an appeal arguing that the State should recognise the Canadian marriage of a lesbian couple. The statement comes as a blow to advocates for same sex marriage continue to assert that children are not adversely affected by having same sex parents. Suggesting that welfare of children was a key justification for the preferential status of marriage within the tax system, Justice Dunne said that much evidence on this point had been considered in the course of the case. But she warned that the status of such evidence was not conclusive. "Until such time as the state of knowledge as to the welfare of children is more advanced, it seems to me that the State is entitled to adopt a cautious approach to changing the capacity to marry," she said. Evidence advanced on behalf of the couple, Dr Katherine Zappone, an American public policy consultant, and Dr Anne Louise Gilligan, suggested that children of lesbian parents fared equally as compared with children of heterosexual parents. However, this evidence was vigourosuly challenged by the State. Key flaws in the evidence, including a lack of longitudinal studies, small sample sizes and the fact that the vast majority of studies compared outcomes as between single lesbian mothers and single heterosexual mother, were exposed. Indeed, Dr Linda Waite, a US family expert, said that the research was virtually worthless in determining outcomes for children with same sex parents compared to those with heterosexual parents.

19/12/06