Press Releases

New children’s rights amendment must not give State sweeping powers of intervention in families

     16th February 2010

The proposed new children’s rights amendment, published today, will require close study. However, a guiding principle must be that any amendment must not give the State more power of intervention in family life than it needs. Overseas such powers have often been abused to remove children from their families in very controversial circumstances.
Read more »

 

Decision in sperm-donor case welcome

     10th December 2009

THE IONA INSTITUTE has welcomed today’s decision by the Supreme Court to grant a sperm-donor father access to his child. Commenting on the decision, Iona Institute Director, David Quinn, said: “This decision respects the rights of both fathers and children. A biological father has a right to know and have access to his child, and a child has a right to know and have access to his or her biological father.”
Read more »

 

Former Taoiseach John Bruton urges religious believers to fight for their values in the EU

     16th November 2009

In a speech to be jointly hosted tonight by the quarterly review, Studies, and The Iona Institute, former Taoiseach and EU ambassador in Washington, John Bruton, argues that the best way for Christians and other religious believers to influence EU policy is by “getting involved on a day to day with its work” and that “opting out in an effort to recreate a romanticised past would lead nowhere.” In his talk Mr Bruton rejects models of secularism that say there should be no relationship between the Churches and the European Union. He says that the newly ratified Lisbon treaty expressly calls for formal structures of dialogue between the European Union and the Churches and that it would not do this unless it believed that such dialogue was justifiable.
Read more »

 

Dept of Education must respect principle of parental choice in talks with Catholic bishops

     12th November 2009

he Iona Institute has today called on the Department of Education to respect the principle of parental choice in any talks about the future of denominational schools in Ireland. In addition, Catholic schools should be given to other patron bodies only where there is clear evidence that there is no longer demand for such a school in a given area.
Read more »

 

New poll shows big rise in church-attendance

     2009

TWO-THIRDS OF IRISH PEOPLE go to church at least once a month, a new opinion poll conducted by RedC on behalf of The Iona Institute has found. Compared with an ESRI poll conducted early last year this figure has jumped from 54%. The new poll is the first confirmation of anecdotal evidence that religious practice has been on the increase since the recession began. It shows that weekly church attendance is 46% (up from 42% compared with the ESRI poll (see note 2 below)), while the percentage who go monthly or more is 19% adding up to a grand total of 65%. Only 1% of respondents never go, while another 10% have not been in at least a year.
Read more »

 

Iona Institute backs Protestant schools over education cuts

     21st October 2009

The Iona Institute has today backed calls to reverse cutbacks to Protestant schools. Speaking on behalf of The Iona Institute, Dr John Murray said: “The Iona Institute supports the principle of parental choice. The education cutbacks aimed specifically at Protestant schools threaten the existence of those schools. Therefore the cutbacks are an attack on parental choice and an attack on a very long established part of the education sector.
Read more »

 

New poll on Catholic schools ignores the rights of parents

     25th January 2009

A NEW POLL published in The Irish Times today indicates that a clear majority of the public wants the Catholic Church to give up control of its primary schools. However, the poll ignores the right of parents to send their children to a publicly-funded school of their choice.
Read more »

 

Showing 1 - 7 of 7 Articles | Page 1 of 1

< Previous 1 Next >