The country’s Catholic bishops are to establish a commission to examine how divestment of more Catholic primary schools to other patrons can be assisted. At present, the vast majority of primary schools come under Catholic management, and the bishops acknowledge this is not sustainable in a more secular and multi-cultural Ireland.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic Jonathan Tiernan CEO, of the Jesuit Education Trust said that “The most constructive approach is to engage with the Department of Education to develop a comprehensive agreement on rebalancing patronage at primary level. This should not be framed as a simple transfer of schools or a strategy of contraction, but as the starting point for renewing those schools that continue under Catholic patronage.”
The Department of Education recently conducted a survey of parents of primary and pre-primary school children to determine how many want divestment. The results have not been published yet.
When divestment of particular schools has been attempted in practice, parents have often pushed back.
An atheist group in Greece has taken a case to the European Court of Human Rights seeking to have religious symbols removed from public buildings, especially courts. If the court finds in favour of the group, the ruling will have European-wide implications including possibly in Ireland.
The Greek City Times reports that the Union of Atheists, which has taken the case against Greece, claims that religious symbols in court rooms are discriminatory. Greek courts have found against the Union which is why the case has now gone to the ECHR.
ADF International has intervened as a third party in support of Greece’s position. The legal advocacy group argues that removing such symbols misinterprets religious freedom and secular neutrality. They reference the ECHR’s landmark 2011 Grand Chamber ruling in Lautsi v. Italy, which found that crucifixes in Italian public school classrooms do not constitute indoctrination or infringe on rights to freedom of thought, conscience, or religion.
China’s birth rate hit another record low last year and for the fourth year in a row, deaths exceeded births. China has fallen to the world’s second most populous country after India. Births fell a huge 17pc in 2025 compared with 2024. The birth rate is now at about 1 per woman, about half population replacement level.
The Standard newspaper in Hong Kong reports: “The country’s population dropped by 3.39 million to 1.405 billion, a faster decline than 2024, while the total number of births dropped to 7.92 million in 2025, down 17pc from 9.54 million in 2024. The number of deaths rose to 11.31 million from 10.93 million in 2024, figures from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.”
Commenting on the situation demographer Yi Fuxian of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said on X that births are now at “roughly the same level as in 1738, when China’s population was only about 150 million”.
However, the number of marriages has gone up. The Standard reports: “Marriages rose 22.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.61 million in the third quarter of 2025, putting China on course to halt an almost decade-long annual decline in marriages. Full data for 2025 will be released later this year.” This might lead to an increase in births because marriage and birth rates tend to go up and down together.
Across East Asia, births are well below replacement level and populations are ageing rapidly.
The number of abortions that took place in England and Wales reached a new record high of 278,740 in 2023, according to new official figures. This represents an increase of 10.5pc on the year before and means that one pregnancy in every three ends in abortion in England and Wales. When you add in figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland, just under 300,000 abortions took place in the UK in 2023.
Commenting on the figures, Right to Life UK said: “That almost 300,000 lives have been lost to abortion across the UK in just one year is a clear sign that something has gone very wrong in our society. Having children is essential to the future prosperity of our country. Children are to be prized and celebrated, with full support and compassion offered when pregnancies are unplanned”.
The fertility rate for England and Wales has also fallen to 1.41, well below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman.
A new ‘National Conversation on Education’ has been launched by the Government. It will help form the basis for a ‘Convention on Education’. The deadline for submissions is February 28. The Church of Ireland has urged members to take part.
The ‘conversation’ was launched yesterday by Education Minister, Hildegarde Naughton (pictured). It is being described as “a once-in-a-generation opportunity for children, young people, parents, educators and wider society to help shape Ireland’s education system for decades to come.”
Speaking after the launch, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Michael Jackson, said: “I encourage members of the Church of Ireland to join this conversation and to offer our specific perspectives so that our voices can be included in this great venture.”
He said that the Church of Ireland “has contributed to education in this country for hundreds of years.”
The Catholic Church will also be taking part.
The survey questionnaire can be found here.
There will be a doubling of people aged over 65 in the next 20 years in Ireland, creating a massive strain on society and on palliative care, according to the Hospice Foundation.
The change is due to Ireland’s falling fertility which is well below replacement rate and which the Government appears helpless to reverse.
The “Dying, Death and Bereavement in Ireland” report says Ireland’s over-65 population is expected to surpass 1.5 million by the year 2046. While currently around 35,000 people die in Ireland each year, this is expected to grow to 49,000 by 2046.
The number of people dying in Ireland from a condition that will require general and specialist palliative care is set to increase by 57% in the next 20 years from 25,669 to 40,355.
Yet, the number of workers paying taxes to fund the health and other social services for the elderly will decline unless large numbers of immigrant workers come to the country, or the fertility rate reverses course and starts rapidly increasing.
Over 10,000 women in Ireland have not attended a second appointment for an abortion indicating the three day waiting period is saving lives and must be retained, according to the Pro Life Campaign.
The Minister for Health released figures showing that in 2022 and 2023, 3,933 women didn’t return for a second abortion consultation with a GP following the waiting period.
In total, between 2019 and 2024, 10,426 women did not return for an abortion after the three-day waiting period following an initial consultation with a doctor, i.e. between 17% and 18% of the total.
In response, Deputy Carol Nolan said: “Any attempt to eliminate the three-day reflection period can now be seen for what it is; a morally reckless capitulation to an extreme abortion ideology.”
Eilís Mulroy, spokesperson for the Pro Life Campaign, said the figures show many thousands of women may have “accessed extra support, found alternatives, or simply needed time and space” before rushing into abortion.
“Any attempt to remove the reflection period would dismantle a safeguard that clearly makes a difference in real people’s lives.”
She added: “The latest data released strongly reinforces that the reflection period is working and should be retained”.
An overwhelming majority of parents favour marriage, as a lifelong exclusive commitment, for their children over all other kinds of relationships, according to a new poll.
The Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks opinion survey asked: “When you think of your children or the children you might have in the future, what kind of relationship do you wish for them?”
Maria Steen, who was asked by The Sunday Independent to submit a question to the poll, welcomed the results because they show people still acknowledge that marriage “is an institution that is critical not only for the stability of society, but for individual happiness and fulfilment”.
She also noted a significant gender difference among young people: among 18- to 34-year-old 12pc of women favoured having multiple relationships instead of marriage, against only 3pc of men.
She said this is another indication that, “for the first time in generations (if ever), young men are becoming more conservative than young women in relation to sexual ethics”.
An advisory body has warned that Ireland’s population is at risk of a “vicious downward cycle” due to the cascading effects of a declining birth rate and the Government must act to reverse it.
The statement is contained in a report by the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), which researched recent demographic shifts across the country. Ireland’s fertility rate is currently at 1.5, well below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman.
While lower population growth and migration may be tempting, the report said, this could create a “vicious cycle”.
“The effect of this is that fertility declines further, emigration rises, and the population continues to age,” the report said.
“Fiscal and pension pressures mount, constraining future investment and creating a downward spiral of stagnation, as well as intergenerational and regional unfairness. Once established, such dynamics can be very difficult to reverse.”
Instead, the NESC recommended planning for a “virtuous cycle” which sees demographic growth “as an opportunity and invests accordingly”.
This will require far greater investment in services.
“Fertility may be stabilised through stronger family supports: affordable childcare and housing, adequate parental leave, and income and welfare policies that de-risk family formation,” it said.
Mothers are more likely to have a clear sense of purpose in their lives, according to a new report by the Institute of Family Studies and the Wheatley Institute.
This aligns with past research which consistently shows mothers pulling ahead on a number of well-being metrics. That is despite a popular narrative that single women without children are happier than married mothers.
Data from the Women’s Well-Being Survey (WWS) of 3,000 U.S. women, ages 25 to 55, conducted by YouGov in early March 2025, showed that 28% of married mothers strongly agreed that their life has a clear sense of purpose, and 25% of unmarried mothers reported the same. This compares to 14% of married childless women and 16% of unmarried childless women on the same metric.
These findings square with research that shows, across the world, parents are more likely to report having a meaningful life.
