European bishops have taken European Union officials to task over failing to focus on the real needs of marriage, and have called on them to respect the distinct national marriage laws of different member-states. And they suggest that some European policies may encroach on the rights of member states to set their own marriage policies.

Two thirds of British people see cohabitation as being indistinguishable from marriage, according to a major survey released today, and most no longer regard heterosexual married couples as the "norm” even though they still comprise 85pc of all couples. Government failure to support traditional marriage has been partly blamed for the change in attitude.

A third of the school places in two West Dublin Catholic primary schools are to be allocated for children of “all faiths and none” under a pilot scheme set up by the Archdiocese of Dublin. The new enrolment policy is set to be introduced in the parish of Porterstown/Clonsilla.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that preventing lesbian single persons from adopting constitutes discrimination under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Government has rejected an Opposition call for an early and limited referendum on children's rights. The call came on Tuesday after the Dublin Circuit Criminal court released the man at the centre of the C case, who had been accused of the sexual assault of a minor.

A case in which twins who were separated at birth married each other without knowing that they were brother and sister has demonstrated the need to strengthen a child’s right to know the identity of his or her biological parents, according to UK peer Lord David Alton.

The proposed referendum on children's may be postponed until next year, it has emerged. A growing consensus that that it should not be held on the same day as the Lisbon Treaty poll is behind the proposed delay.

Gordon Brown's new administration has decided against backing more faith schools, according to the Children, Schools and Families Secretary, Ed Balls. He made the remarks before a House of Commons select committee. Meanwhile, the same committee has summoned Catholic bishops to account for teaching ‘fundamentalist’ Catholic doctrine in their schools.

Public policy must pay more attention to the central role of fathers in the lives of children, according to the Fatherhood Institute, a UK-based think tank, commenting on the results of a new poll it released this week. The poll shows that a majority of women believe that children need fathers and that fathers are just as good at caring for children as women.

It “makes no sense” to force parents to live apart so that one can receive lone parent benefits, Martin Cullen, Minister for Social and Family Affairs has said. He made the comment as he announced a package of proposals relating to lone parents. Part of this will be on obligation on lone parents to seek employment or training once their child has reached seven or eight.

Yesterday was the busiest day of the year for divorce lawyers in the UK. According to British divorce lawyers, the first Monday after the Christmas break is known as D-Day, as they receive thousands of calls from people desperate to untie the knot.

Hundreds of thousands of people from all over Spain converged on Madrid last weekend for a rally called to defend the traditional family of mother, father and children. With a general election looming in Spain later this year, many interpreted the rally as demonstrating the power of the family values lobby in Spain.

One of Ireland's foremost criminal law experts has recommended the reintroduction of the offence of statutory rape (sex with a person under the age of consent) without permitting a defence of mistake as to age. Professor Finbarr McAuley of UCD made the recommendation in a report to the Oireachtas on Tuesday.

The legal issues raised in a series of recent high profile court cases are set to be addressed in the programme of work set out by the Law Reform Commission (LRC), who presented their agenda to the Government on Monday. Family law issues such as the rights of unmarried fathers, the rights of estranged partners as regards frozen embryos and the rights of those who claim to be suffering from “gender identity disorder” are all set to be examined.

A new group called LGBT Noise has been formed to campaign for same-sex marriage. The group has said they intend to “make a lot of noise” about the issue. About 50 members of the new organisation asked passers-by in Dublin on Saturday to sign a petition in favour of same-sex marriage.

The Department of Education has announced the creation of two State-run, non-denominational primary schools, to be established in two Dublin areas from next September. The schools will be run under the patronage of the Vocational Education Committees in the locations concerned.

One in three teenage students binge drink because “they cannot cope”, according to a new study of teen attitudes. The survey, carried out by Marianne Gurnee, a US consultant, for the Cork based Counselling Centre, showed that one in six admit feelings of loneliness and depression.

The Government has invited interested parties and members of the public to make written submissions to a joint Committee set up to consider the proposed referendum on children's rights.

A controversial teachers' redeployment scheme interferes with the autonomy of four Dublin Protestant schools, a case to be taken in the High Court will say. The case of the four schools relates to the maintenance of denominational education.

Lower earners are more likely to disapprove of women having children outside marriage, a new survey has found. The poll, carried out by Red C on behalf of the Irish Examiner, found that 57 per cent of people in the higher-earning ABC category thought that it was fine for women to have a child on her own. But this number fell to 49 per cent among low earning groups.