Reports include – Gay Christians – Irish Times comment; Northern Ireland school inspections plunged into chaos; ‘Strip absent fathers’ of benefits;
Most women in part time work happy with hours
Gay Christians – Irish Times comment
Irish Times – It is a tragedy for Christians that so often their churches are seen as anything but the all-embracing fountains of compassion that might be expected. Too often when they speak of exercising religious freedom, it means they wish to discriminate against those with whom they disagree, not least when it comes to same-sex issues.
Schools are an example. The Irish churches sought and were granted an EU-opt out so they could legally discriminate against gay teachers whose lifestyle they deem to be at variance with their ethos. By objective standards, moral or otherwise, this is an infringement on the rights of teachers who happen to be gay, all the more so in a state where homosexuality was decriminalised in 1993.
The current crisis in Anglicanism over same-sex clergy is symptomatic of a more basic problem facing all churches: their relevance to societies which have moved on. This is very much the case in Ireland.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0314/1224313270225.html
Northern Ireland school inspections plunged into chaos by pension dispute
Belfast Telegraph – The school inspection system has been plunged into chaos after thousands of teachers boycotted the process in a bitter row over pensions.Teachers from two of Northern Ireland’s main unions are refusing to co-operate with Department of Education inspectors despite being warned they may be in breach of contract.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/northern-ireland-school-inspections-plunged-into-chaos-by-pension-dispute-16130394.html
‘Strip absent fathers’ of benefits
Belfast Telegraph – Unemployed absent fathers who refuse to take up work experience offers should be stripped of their benefits, a report has recommended. Policy Exchange has called for a job placement programme, similar to the controversial scheme that last month sparked accusations that young people were being forced into “slave labour”, to be created for welfare claimants who do not live with their children.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/strip-absent-fathers-of-benefits-16130760.html
Most women in part time work happy with hours: CSO
CIN – The vast majority of women who work part-time want to work part-time and are not seeking full-time work, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office. The figures, contained in the latest Quarterly National Household Survey, found that 73 per cent of part-time working women say they are not underemployed as against only 27 per cent of women in part-time work who say they are underemployed. This confirms research by academics such as Dr Catherine Hakim of the London School of Economics, who says that most women choose a different work / life balance compared with most men. The fact that so many women choose to work part-time is a major reason for the existence of a pay gap between men and women.
http://www.cinews.ie/article.php?artid=9867