Iona Institute

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Iona Institute

Iona Institute logo
Motto "For Religion and Society"
Founder(s) David Quinn
Established January 2007 (2007-01)
Mission Promotion of religion and socially conservative values
Director David Quinn
Key people
  • Patricia Casey
  • Breda O'Brien
  • James Sheehan
  • Vincent Twomey
Location Dublin, Ireland
Address 23 Merrion Square, Dublin
Website www.ionainstitute.ie

The Iona Institute is a conservative Catholic[1][2] lobby group based in Ireland. Founded by David Quinn, a commentator on religious affairs, it was launched publicly in 2007. The psychiatrist Patricia Casey, journalist Breda O'Brien and Fr. Vincent Twomey are amongst its patrons.[3]

The institute advocates religion and opposes same-sex marriage and supported limited civil partnerships with broad-based religious freedom protections.[2][4] It posits that rising crime, family breakdown, drug abuse and other social problems are typical of a "weakened society" and that such a society will fail to recognise the importance of marriage and religion unless an evidence-based case was made.[5] Since its foundation the institute has released a number of reports to this end.[6]

In an article in The Irish Times by Kathy Sheridan on same-sex marriage, the institute was described as being "blessed with extremely high-profile members with priceless multimedia platforms" and "'very, very engaged' with politicians".[7]

Campaign issues

Marriage

The Iona Institute promotes heterosexual marriage and opposes marriage equality for homosexuals in society.[8] The institute claims that children do best when raised by a mother and father, but has been accused of misquoting the scientific literature in making those claims, with the American Psychological Association position being "... the evidence to date suggests that home environments provided by lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those provided by heterosexual parents to support and enable children’s psychosocial growth".[9][10] The institute has been accused of homophobia because of its opposition to the Irish government recognising same-sex marriages.[11][12] The organisation has been criticised for an over-reliance on invalid interpretations of data to back their claims.[13]

In December 2012 the institute released a video on YouTube arguing that marriage can only be between a man and a woman and that blocking gay couples from marriage was not discrimination. The video gained notoriety after the institute's YouTube account was temporarily suspended and its director, David Quinn, initially alleged censorship. The video was subsequently parodied by activists in favour of same-sex marriage.[14]

Breakdown claims

An Iona institute report called "The Fragmenting Family" drew heavily on data from Census 2006 and said that between 1986 and 2006 marital breakdown in Ireland rose by 500%.[15] However, the report was criticised by Fergus Finlay because it used figures from the 1986 census (before divorce was legalised in Ireland),[5] and that the figures actually suggest that marriage breakdown had been slowing down since the 1990s.[5] A 2010 report by the ERSI confirms that "[t]he evidence suggests no significant upward shift in marital breakdown as a result of the advent of divorce in 1997".[16] In 2004, Ireland had the lowest divorce rate in Europe with 7 divorces per 1,000 compared to the EU average of 21 per 1,000.[17]

Tax

The Iona Institute’s first policy document, "Tax Individualisation: Time for a Critical Rethink", was published in 2007. Written by barrister John P Byrne, the document says that families where only one parent stayed at home were discriminated against by the current tax individualisation policy. The paper advocated an increase in the level of the Home Carer's Allowance.

In May 2011, the Iona Institute hosted a conference entitled "Women, home and work: Towards a policy that’s fair to all families", which highlighted the social policies that it claims unfairly discriminate in favour of working women over mothers who wish to spend some or all of their working lives at home with their children.[18]

Denominational schools

The Iona Institute says it believes that the government should continue to fund faith-based schools. As of 2010, mainstream primary schools were over 90% Roman Catholic.[19] In March 2009, the institute commissioned a survey by polling company Red C which showed that 47% of the population wished to send their children to a catholic school.[20]

Religious freedom

In an April 2008 conference the Iona Institute, highlighted a posited move by the European Union, which would require Ireland to scrap Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act 2000.[21] Section 37 provides an exemption for religious schools from the equality legislation and allows them to discriminate based on religion. This section has been opposed by the Irish National Teachers' Organisation since its introduction.[21][22]

The Iona Institute believes that employees should not be required to act against their Catholic beliefs by employers. For example, in April 2010, the Institute supported the stance taken by Dr Phil Boyle, a fertility doctor based in Galway, who will only provide fertility treatment to married couples because of his Catholic beliefs.[23]

Reception and impact

In an article in The Irish Times by Kathy Sheridan on same-sex marriage, the institute was described as being "blessed with extremely high-profile members with priceless multimedia platforms" and "'very, very engaged' with politicians".[7]

RTÉ payment controversy

On 11 January 2014, the Iona Institute claimed it was defamed when accused of homophobia by the performer and gay rights activist Rory O'Neill in an interview on the RTE Saturday Night Show.[1][24][25] A payment of roughly €85,000 was made by RTE to the Iona Institute and John Waters as part of an out of court agreement. All the litigants from the Iona Institute rejected a right of reply in favour of the payment.[26] Breda O'Brien described a right of reply offer as "completely inadequate".[27]

The payment caused a controversy, with the minister of communications, Pat Rabbitte, and Senators David Norris and Ivana Bacik demanding the reasoning for the payment[25] and in the region of 750 people attended a protest at the payment. Senator Averil Power said seeking "to completely censor somebody else’s viewpoint by resorting to solicitors’ letters is ridiculous".[28] MEP Paul Murphy said RTE's actions were censorship, and further described it as a "real attack on the freedom of speech".[26][29] Senator Ronan Mullen said that the payments by RTÉ “were a welcome development in the cause of promoting a civil debate"[30] In a Dáil discussion on the issue, TDs, John Lyons, Jerry Buttimer, Michael Colreavy, Clare Daly,Mick Wallace and Catherine Murphy also criticised the payment.[31][32][33] The Index on Censorship commented on the incident, saying "If the Catholic right was more confident in its arguments, it wouldn't attempt to censor the other side".[1] The Taoiseach Enda Kenny said to Buttimer that he had no plans to make RTÉ "directly accountable" to the Dáil over the payments.[34]

See also

Portal icon Conservatism portal

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Reidy, Padraig (17 January 2014). "Ireland: Legal threats from Catholic commentators put drag artist Panti in a twist". Index on Censorship. Retrieved 4 February 2014. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tighe, Mark (2009-10-25). "Gay activists attack bill optout plan". The Sunday Times (London). Archived from the original on 2010-08-12. Retrieved 2010-08-12. 
  3. ↑ "Personnel and Patrons". Iona Institute. Retrieved 12 January 2012. 
  4. ↑ http://www.ionainstitute.ie/pdfs/civilunionweb.pdf.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Finlay, Fergus (18 September 2007). "Broken marriages: the floodgates are a long way from bursting yet". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 12 January 2012. 
  6. ↑ The Benefits of Religious Practice
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Sheridan, Kathy. "How gay marriage went mainstream", The Irish Times, 14 July 2012.
  8. ↑ http://ionainstitute.com/index.php?id=75&searched=marriage+help&advsearch=oneword&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1+ajaxSearch_highlight2
  9. ↑ R. Grimes, David. "Strong religious convictions are no excuse for misrepresenting research". Irish Times. Retrieved 4 February 2014. 
  10. ↑ Committee on Lesbian, Gay,and Bisexual Concerns, Committee on Children,Youth,and Families and the Committee on Women in Psychology (2005). "Lesbian and Gay Parenting". American Psychological Association. 
  11. ↑ Grainne Healy of MarriagEquality criticises Patricia Casey's argument against same-sex marriage
  12. ↑ Letter by Christopher Robsonundue weight? – discuss]
  13. ↑ Noeline Blackwell; Liam Herrick; Mark Kelly (29 July 2008). "Attack on UN rights body just doesn't bear scrutiny". Irish Independent. Retrieved 13 January 2012. 
  14. ↑ "Irish Catholic group in spotlight over censorship row". Al Jazeera. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2012. 
  15. ↑ O'Brien, Carl (6 September 2007). "Marriage breakdown up 500% in last 20 years". The Irish Times. Retrieved 13 January 2012. 
  16. ↑ Lunn, Pete; Fahey, Tony; Hannan, Carmel. "Family Figures: Family Dynamics and Family Types in Ireland, 1986-2006". Economic and Social Research Institute. Retrieved 16 February 2012. 
  17. ↑ Sweeney, Conor (13 May 2006). "Divorce rate here lower than the rest of Europe". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 16 February 2012. 
  18. ↑ 'Women and work policies unfair, conference told' Irish Times 27 May 2011, 'Irish women "sold childcare myth created by EU"' Irish Examiner, 27 May 2011
  19. ↑ Mainstream National Primary Schools 2010-2011 School Year. Enrolment as on 30 September 2010, Statistic delivered by Department of Education and Skills website. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  20. ↑ 'Parents demand right to pick schools for children,' Irish Independent, 25 March 2009
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 'Church takes advice on equality finding', Irish Times, Saturday, 5 April 2008
  22. ↑ "Employment Equality Act 1998, Equal Status Act 2000 - Questions and Answers". Irish National Teachers' Organisation. July 2003. Retrieved 16 February 2013. 
  23. ↑ "Infertility treatment refusal led to inquiry," Irish Times, 15 April 2010
  24. ↑ Duggan, Barry (5 February 2014). "Top RTE executive defends €85k payout over homophobia claims". Evening Herald. Retrieved 6 February 2014. 
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "RTE's 'The Saturday Night Show' to host debate on homophobia". independent.ie. Retrieved 4 February 2014. 
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Byrne, Brian (4 February 2014). "Comic Norton shows support for Panti in RTE payout row". Irish Independent. Retrieved 4 February 2014. 
  27. ↑ "‘We only sought damages from RTE after they refused to apologise over claim of homophobia’". independent.ie. Retrieved 4 February 2014. 
  28. ↑ McGreevy, Ronan (2 February 2014). "RTÉ payout ‘damaging in the extreme’". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 February 2014. 
  29. ↑ "European Parliament backs anti-homophobia report". 4 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014. 
  30. ↑ "‘Independent Senators differ on RTÉ payment to Iona Institute members’". irishtimes.com. Retrieved 5 February 2014. 
  31. ↑ "Emotional contributions to Dáil debate on RTÉ Iona payout". 6 February. Retrieved 6 February 2014. 
  32. ↑ "‘Where there is homophobia, it must be challenged’ – Dáil debates Pantigate". The journal. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2014. 
  33. ↑ "Dáil questions over RTÉ €85,000 payout". RTE. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2014. 
  34. ↑ McGreevy, Ronan (6 February 2014). "Taoiseach rules out making RTÉ accountable for Iona Institute payout". Retrieved 7 February 2014. 

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