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Relevant Links	News EU Equal treatment directive "oppressive": UK Catholic Bishops Britain’s Roman Catholic leaders have branded a proposed EU Equal Treatment Directive an “instrument of oppression”. 04/08/09 View full text Just one in ten primary school children in child-care: CSO Only 11 per cent of children of primary school age are in child care, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office. 31/07/09 View full text Australian Prime Minister pledges to retain ban on same-sex marriage Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said his country's ban on gay marriage would remain, despite moves within his Labor Party to have it overturned. Labor policy also opposes civil unions. 31/07/09 View full text Religion most popular Irish group activity, Europe-wide study shows Religion is the most popular voluntary group activity, according to new figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The new figures emerge from the 2006 Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) which is carried out throughout the European Union. They are published in the CSO's Community Involvement and Social Networks document. In an analysis of a range of group activities, the study found that the most common form of group activity in Ireland was religious, with 48 per cent of people reporting that they participated in religious activities or ceremonies. The next most common form of group activity was defined as recreational. Only four per cent of people reported engagement in political groups, including political parties. The group activities which were included in the SILC were Political, Professional, Religious, Recreational and Other groups. ‘Other groups’ included environmental organisations, civil rights groups, neighbourhood associations etc. The survey found that nearly two thirds of the population aged 16 and over took part in one or more of the group activities identified. Overall, there was no significant difference in participation levels across gender (65 per cent for both males and females). However, males were more likely to participate in recreational groups (41 per cent of males compared with 31 per cent of females) while females were more inclined to be involved in religious groups (51 per cent of females compared with 45 per cent of males). Males (10 per cent) were twice as likely to be involved in a professional association as females (five per cent). Age also had an impact on participation. Participation levels were 67 per cent or higher for persons aged 35 or over, while participation levels of 60 per cent or lower were recorded for persons under the age of 35. According to the research, participation in group activities was highest in the Midland region (76 per cent) compared with the South-East region which recorded the lowest level of participation at 53 per cent. The SILC questionnaire also asked about participation in unpaid, informal charitable work, in order to capture instances where respondents donate some of their time or resources to specific activities without expectations about getting specific benefits in return. Overall, nearly one quarter (24 per cent) of the population aged 16 and over participated in informal, unpaid charity work in 2006. Women (28 per cent) were more likely than men (21 per cent) to participate in this type of activity, while those aged 45-54 were more likely to engage in this sort of voluntary activity compared with those aged 16-24 (17 per cent) 30/07/09 Amnesty head blasts same-sex adoption opponents as "bigots" Amnesty International Ireland head Colm O’Gorman has said opposition to same-sex marriage and adoption is "rooted in bigotry". 30/07/09 View full text Parliament bans Christmas choirs on its grounds Choirs have been told they are no longer welcome to sing Christmas carols in areas of Parliament because it puts MPs off their lunch, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph. 30/07/09 View full text Divorce, death of spouse, “severely damages health”: study Divorce or the death of a spouse severely damages a man or woman's long-term health even if they remarry, according to a new study of over 8,000 people. 28/07/09 View full text Ban on sale of sperm/egg payments “should be reexamined”, says UK's IVF head The head of the British Government's watchdog on IVF has said that the longstanding ban on selling sperm and eggs should be reconsidered to address a shortage of donors. 28/07/09 View full text Sunday school poster banned for "promoting religion" A Sunday school teacher has been told she can’t put up a poster at her local library to advertise a church children’s event because it ‘promotes religion’. 28/07/09 View full text Children need mothers and fathers, says leading science magazine Fathers and mothers each play a valuable but different role in raising children, according to research published by New Scientist magazine. 24/07/09 View full text Irish marital breakdown rate hits one in four, new figures show Ireland now has a marital breakdown rate of 27.5 per cent, based on figures from the Courts Service Annual Report for 2008. 24/07/09 View full text Catholic nurse obliged to take part in abortion A Catholic nurse in New York is taking legal action after her employers obliged her to assist with a late-term abortion. View full text Gay rights radical applauds Lords free speech decision Leading gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has welcomed the decision of the House of Lords to keep a free speech protection in a controversial ‘anti-hate’ law. 23/07/09 View full text Doctor sacked adoption panel for opposition to same-sex adoption An experienced paediatrician is to lose her place on an adoption panel because she doesn’t think adoption by same-sex couples is best for children. 23/07/09 View full text Increase in Irish volunteering reported Charity shops are seeing an increase in the number of volunteers since the onset of the recession, as the newly unemployed seek to occupy themselves and retain some job skills during the downturn, according to a report in the Irish Times. 23/07/09 View full text Elderly will soon outnumber young children worldwide The number of people aged over 65 is on course to overtake the number of children under the age of five for the first time in world history, according to a study published yesterday. 23/07/09 View full text State control of schools and hospitals no solution: Archbishop Handing over schools currently run by the Church to “complex State bureaucracies whose efficiency has certainly yet to be proven” is not the way forward for Irish education, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said. 21/07/09 View full text Teacher suspended for Christian beliefs free to return to work A London teacher who was suspended and threatened with the sack for expressing his Christian beliefs at work will be back at work next term. 21/07/09 View full text Attempt to force Scouts to drop pledge to God A prominent secular British MP has attempted to use the Equality Bill to force the Scout Association to scrap the age-old tradition of new entrants pledging allegiance to God. 20/07/09 View full text Cohabitation not “trial marriage” says new study Most unmarried couples who live together aren't trying to test their relationship, according to a new US study of dating and cohabitation. 20/07/09 View full text 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 © 2007 IONA Institute \| \| All Rights Reserved \| \| Charity No: 17347	Spotlight...
Institute for Marriage and Public Policy First Things Relationships Foundation National Fatherhood Initiative The Institute for the Study of Civil Society Studies Family Facts Family & Life The Christian Institute Veritas		"The child...shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents." Article 7. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.