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The Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality has been described as "evil" by a former Irish president. Mary McAleese said she was hopeful the Pope would change the church's position on the issue. Pope Francis is due to visit the Republic of Ireland this month for the World Meeting of Families, a major event for the Church. Mrs McAleese, who was president from 1997 to 2011, said she hoped it would be free of "homophobic messages". The Pope's two-day tour will be the first papal visit to Ireland for almost 40 years. 'Exploded that myth'Mrs McAleese made her comments about the...

The Minister for Health has said women in Northern Ireland will be able to access abortion services in the Republic when the legislation is introduced here. Speaking in Belfast this evening, Simon Harris said his concern for a woman’s right to access health services in crisis pregnancies situations does not stop at the border. He said while he respects the abortion law in northern Ireland, he hopes it is addressed in the near future. Britain’s Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland and an abortion is only allowed if a woman’s life is at risk, or if there is...

Motorists may be taxed on the distance they drive rather than paying excise on fuel at petrol station pumps, under plans proposed by senior officials. The Government is considering numerous schemes to ensure the overall tax take from motoring does not drop significantly as a result of moves to lower emission vehicles. The Department of Finance has outlined a series of options on how to ensure the exchequer does not lose out, such as a fixed charge on the purchase of every car, no matter how low its emissions levels are. Recent policy has been designed to encourage motorists to...

IRELAND, July 26, 2018, (LifeSiteNews) – Ireland’s Catholic bishops have reportedly caved into government demands to provide “marriage care service” that includes “marriage preparation” and “marital sex therapy” to homosexual couples. The bishops’ decision, seen as a move to avoid losing government funding, seems to place fiscal considerations over fidelity to Church teaching. At issue is nearly €1.6 million in government funding for Accord, the counseling service administered by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ICBC). In 2016, the Irish government, now headed by the homosexual Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, supplied roughly one quarter of Accord’s operating budget. Back in January,...

A Dublin barber has been ordered to pay €5,000 to a transgender man after being found to have discriminated against him when refusing to give him “a short back and sides”. The transgender man, Lee McLoughlin, told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) that when he sat down to have his hair cut at Charlie’s Barbers in Nutgrove Shopping Center, south Dublin, on September 24th last, the barber, mistakenly believing he was a woman, replied: “I don’t cut ladies’ hair”. Mr. McLoughlin told the barber that he just wanted a “short back and sides”, and the barber replied, “We don’t cut...

LEICESTER, United Kingdom - In the wake of Ireland’s May 25 referendum legalizing abortion in the country, the Irish Labour Party has started a petition seeking a referendum to end religious schools in the country.Unlike in the United States, the government funds religious schools in Ireland, and about 96 percent of elementary schools in the country are under the patronage of a religious group, and approximately 90 percent of these schools are run by the Catholic Church.“It’s time for a national conversation about how we achieve a modern, secular and equality-based education system for the Ireland of today, and what...

Leo Varadkar was branded an “airhead” today as Downing Street dismissed his extraordinary threat to “ban” British aircraft from Irish airspace in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The Irish PM was slapped down by Theresa May’s spokeswoman over the saber-rattling — which is being seen as tit-for-tat for the UK reclaiming control over its territorial waters. As the row raged, Mrs. May urged the EU to take a more “practical” approach to the negotiations — insisting her Chequers plan offered a “comprehensive” solution to the need to avoid a hard Irish border. And No. 10 gave short shrift to...

On the morning of 21 December, a select group of people made their way through a dark, narrow passage and gathered in a small cross-shaped chamber at Newgrange in Co Meath, Irish Republic, to celebrate the winter solstice.Newgrange, located 40km north of Dublin and perched high above a bend of the River Boyne, is a prehistoric passage tomb, covered on the outside by a large grassy mound. At over 5,000 years old it is the older cousin of Stonehenge and it predates the pyramids by about 500 years. It is difficult to estimate how long it would have taken to...

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DUBLIN (Reuters) - Atlantis, the legendary island nation over whose existence controversy has raged for thousands of years, was actually Ireland, according to a new theory by a Swedish scientist. Atlantis, the Greek philosopher Plato wrote in 360 BC, was an island in the Atlantic Ocean where an advanced civilization developed some 11,500 years ago until it was hit by a cataclysmic natural disaster and sank beneath the waves. Geographer Ulf Erlingsson, whose book explaining his theory will be published next month, says the measurements, geography, and landscape of Atlantis as described by Plato match Ireland almost exactly. "I am...

An archaeologists analysis on how the construction of megalithic monuments in Atlantic Europe are not restricted to a single purpose, nor how they reflect one aspect of the community that built them... well-rounded evidence for practical and symbolic components of the early agricultural lifestyle within the Neolithic. Depictions in the architecture of these structures explore complex symbolism and the socio-ritual interactions where monuments offer places for gatherings... Megalithic monuments of Atlantic Europe have long attracted attention from those who are interested in the early past of mankind. The word megalith originates from the Greek, meaning ‘great stone’ and is used...

Researchers Say Gardom’s Edge Monolith Is Astronomical Marker A team of researchers from the Nottingham Trent University has suggested that a 4000-year-old unique triangular shaped monolith, known as the Gardom’s Edge monolith, was aligned to be an astronomical marker. The 2.2 meter high monolith, located in the Peak District National Park near Manchester, UK, has a striking, right-angled triangular shape that slants up towards geographic south. The orientation and inclination of the slope is aligned to the altitude of the Sun at mid-summer. The team believes that the monolith was set in place to give symbolic meaning to the location...

An Impact Event in 3114BC? The Beginning of a Turbulent Millennium. Recurring Phenomenon: The Cosmic DisasterThe Mayan CalendarStonehengeA Possible Source for the 3100 BC Event Collected and commented by Timo Niroma, Helsinki, Finland Go to the Evidence of Astronomical Aspects of Mankind's Past and Recent Climate Homepage Recurring Phenomenon: The Cosmic Disaster Besides the most evident cosmic catastrophes ca. 2200 BC and 2345 BC there are other events during the Holocene that are so widely global and difficult to explain by only the Earth's own mechanisms that a cosmic explanation must evidently be taken into account. The first so-called...

Maeshowe winter solstice as viewed by Neolithic man CAROLINE WICKHAM-JONESMaeshowe winter solstice as viewed by Neolithic manMaeshowe is managed by Historic Scotland. Picture: Charles Tait Photographic THE GREAT mound of Maeshowe has dominated the skyline of Orkney for almost 5,000 years. It is a spectacular sight and a visit to the chambered tomb provides one of the highlights for visitors to the Orkney islands. Today, as we stoop to enter and walk down the low 11 metre passage to the chamber with its massive stonework, we are reminded of the ingenuity of those original builders. Its apparent uniformity masks a...

London - Red hair may be the genetic legacy of Neanderthals, according to a new study by British scientists. Researchers at the John Radcliffe Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford were quoted by The Times as saying the so-called "ginger gene" which gives people red hair, fair skin and freckles could be up to 100 000 years old. They claim that their discovery points to the gene having originated in Neanderthal man who lived in Europe for 200 000 years before Homo sapien settlers, the ancestors of modern man, arrived from Africa about 40 000 years ago. Rosalind Harding, the...

Friday, June 11, 2004 By Marion O’MaraViking ‘town’ is Ireland’s equivalent of Pompeii IT’S likely to be some weeks yet before Minister for the Environment Martin Cullen announces recommendations for dealing with and possibly preserving what historians are now describing as Ireland’s first town. The discovery of the Viking settlement, at Woodstown, five miles from the city, which is believed to date back to the mid-9th century, was made as preparatory work got underway on the city’s €300m by-pass. The site, located close to the River Suir, is 1.5 km long by 0.5 km wide and so far up to...

Graveyard yields secrets of ancient world By Shane Harrison BBC NI Dublin Correspondent Residents of the village of Nobber, north Meath, in the Republic of Ireland, stumbled upon archaeological treasure when they decided to clean up an old graveyard. Now they are hoping that tombs in the shape of Celtic crosses, dating back 1100 years, will put them on the map, alongside such famous archaeological sites as Newgrange. The old graveyard at Nobber, North Meath Until recently, the graveyard in the village of Nobber, about two hours' drive from Dublin, was overgrown with weeds and briars. It is surrounded by...

My family is considering a trip to Ireland in 2004. I'm looking for advice on who to book the trip with and any experiences anyone had on their trips.

The recent heatwave in the UK and Ireland has uncovered ancient archaeological sites that, in some cases, have never been seen before. One such discovery is a henge, or circular enclosure, located 1km from the famous Irish megalithic passage tomb, Newgrange. The henge was discovered by historian Anthony Murphy of Mythical Ireland, who was flying his drone over the Boyne Valley when he spotted a circular shape in the field. It is estimated that this henge was built some 5000 years ago. ... snip ... These new discoveries include a Roman fortlet near Magor, which emerged in ripening crops, and...

Drought in Ireland Leads to Discovery of Neolithic Henge Drone footage captured amid a heatwave close to the 5000-year-old Newgrange neolithic passage tomb in County Meath, Ireland, on July 10 revealed an previously-undiscovered henge, sparking an investigation by the country’s National Monument ServiceThe footage was shot by Ken Williams in Brú na Bóinne, or the Boyne Valley, an area rich in neolithic sites and which was designated a a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.Williams said that were it not for the recent heatwave and drought in the area, the remains of the henge would not have been seen.According to...