Fine Gael spokesperson Deputy Brian Hayes has said that there is a danger that preserving religious schools in the name of parental choice will disguise “active discrimination”. In an interview with the Irish Times, he attacked the “secretive” manner in which he alleged negotiations between the Government and the Catholic Church were being carried out.

A growing number of areas of Irish life are becoming religion free zones, according to the Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray. In an address on Tuesday at this year's Ceifin Conference in Ennis, Dr Murray said that assumptions that religion had no place in public discourse “did not seem to apply to agnostics or atheists.

The definition of the family in the Constitution should be changed to give equal rights to couples who are not married, according to the Green Party. Greens' justice spokesman Ciaran Cuffe made the call after the party was accused of backing off recognising gay marriage.

Fianna Fáil TD, Dr Martin Mansergh, has said that “the value and social utility of marriage and the family based on marriage remains paramount, particularly for the upbringing of children”. In his speech on the Bill, Dr Mansergh cited ‘Domestic Partnerships: A response to recent proposals on civil unions,’ the Iona Institute's document on civil partnerships.

The Government's proposed domestic partnership legislation, scheduled to be introduced next year, will address legal protection of economically dependent cohabitants, according to Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan. He announced the measures after the Government rejected the Labour Party's proposed Civil Unions Bill, which would have created de facto gay marriage.

The government of Sweden is set to ban any religious activities in schools, including Church-run schools, apart from those directly related to religion classes. The new laws will also insist that religious ideas must not be taught as though they are objectively true.

Two foster parents with a record of caring for almost 30 vulnerable children are to have their latest foster son taken away from them because they have refused to sign new sexual equality regulations.

A new survey has revealed that almost one-in-five home buyers say their mortgage repayments are "a heavy burden" while many more are struggling to make repayments. The survey, carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute for IIB Bank, found that almost three-quarters of mortgage holders (73 per cent) have said that they are finding it hard to meet repayments.

Market forces have dictated policy in areas such as the family, child care and care of the elderly for too long, Clare priest Fr Harry Bohan has said.

Households comprised of married couples with children are far less likely to experience consistent or basic poverty than other households, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). According to new figures from the CSO's Statistical Yearbook of Ireland, two adults living with children have the lowest rates of poverty, 5.3 per cent, of any households with children.

A senior Labour minister in the UK has signaled the possibility of a major shift in policy over marriage. Andy Burnham, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told a leading UK newspaper last week that marriage was “best for children”. He added that married couples should get tax incentives from the Government in recognition of the benefits their children and society gain as a result of the union.

Gruelling commutes combined with a lack of free time for families is leading to a growing number of marriages and relationships collapsing, according to the latest report by the Family Support Agency. More than 1,500 separating couples sought help from the Agency's mediation centres last year, with many blaming disputes arising from “time poverty”.

Much remains to be done to raise basic levels of religious knowledge, according to the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin. Speaking at last weekend's religious knowledge conference in St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dr Martin said that he believed that children at different ages should be expected to have growing levels of knowledge.

Britain's top family judges and lawyers have begun a campaign to ease the strains on divorcing couples by taking family law cases out of the courts. Family lawyers from the major divorce firms, along with senior judges, are backing a scheme being used in the US and Canada which encourages couples not to go to law when they separate.

Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes has called for a national forum on education and highlighted the position of Catholic schools in particular, stating: “The Catholic Church could not expect to continue the privileged position it had enjoyed for more than 150 years while pursuing a selective agenda at the same time.”

There is need for greater diversity in schooling in Ireland so as to respond effectively to the changing needs of parents and children, according to the Chairman of the Bishops’ Commission for Education, Bishop Leo O'Reilly. He made the statement of the launch of Catholic Primary Schools: A Policy for Provision into the Future, an outline of the Catholic Church's position on education in Ireland.

In launching the document, Bishop O'Reilly said that it had been in preparation “well before the recent debate in the media and elsewhere about primary school enrolment and provision”. He added that the Church “welcomed that debate”.

“It is very necessary at a time of rapid change that we discuss openly and honestly the new developments and sometimes unforeseen challenges that face us,” the bishop continued. There had been, he went on, “a long history of co-operation between Church and State in the provision of education which has been to the benefit of both”. Ongoing and in-depth examination of this arrangement was needed “so that it will provide the best education for young people now and in the future”.

However, he rejected suggestions that Catholic schools were in any way segregationist or exclusive. Catholic schools, he insisted, were “by their nature and by their mission inclusive schools, while catering for Catholic children who choose a school with a Catholic ethos”.

Referring to the results of a recent research project on education systems in 13 member states of the EU, he said the study found that Irish schools are far ahead of their European counterparts in preventing social exclusion. Catholic primary schools are acknowledged to be among the most inclusive in the country, he added.

He suggested that the model of Church-State dialogue established by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern earlier this year might prove useful in discussing the recognition of cultural and religious diversity in schools.

Bishop O'Reilly said that the Church's document “holds strongly that a vibrant, publicly-funded denominational school system is a basic human right for parents who wish to have such for their children”. Such a right, he continued “is supported by national and international legal instruments”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice has said that the Government's decision to file arguments with the European Court of Human Rights against a pair of elderly spinster sisters was taken on the grounds of national sovereignty. The statement was made to the Catholic newspaper Alive.