The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) has called out the teachers’ occupational health service Medmark for advising that teachers with underlying conditions return to schools as they re-open, describing the move as “grossly unfair”. INTO has further called on the Government to intervene so that members can appeal against their Medmark decisions, and have the…

Corkman Jerry Daly has said he would not have been able to continue distributing The Irish Catholic during the Covid-19 crisis if it were not for the help of local people – including local members of the An Post team. Mr Daly (89) has been a promoter of The Irish Catholic in Drinagh for many…

England and Saracens star No.8 Billy Vunipola has attributed his reluctance to kneel as part of the English Premiership’s anti-racism protest to his Christian Faith. Before a recent clash between Saracens and Bristol, Mr Vunipola stood, while the majority of his team-mates took a knee. Explaining his decision on The Good, The Bad, and The Rugby podcast,…

There have been over 600 attacks on places of worship in Northern Ireland in the past five years, prompting calls for action to protect churches and other religious buildings. Following a Freedom of Information request to the police, Christian Action Research and Education (CARE), have discovered that since 2014/15, there have been 601 crimes recorded…

Senator Rónán Mullen has called on Minister for Education, Norma Foley, to reverse what he has described as a “discriminatory move against fee-paying schools”. He further asked that fee-paying secondary schools be allowed to access the Covid-19 re-opening fund on the same basis as schools in the free scheme. Earlier this month, a Department of…

Archbishop Michael Neary has urged parishioners to challenge priests to ensure that they are living up to their vocation. He was speaking in Knock Shrine on Sunday as he presided at the ordination of Fr Shane Costello. Pointing out that seven priests of the Tuam Archdiocese have died in the last year, Dr Neary said…

The Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) has said that the Government must push ahead with legislation to protect nursing home residents in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis where many of those who died were vulnerable people in homes. Welcoming the expert panel report on the issue, the social workers’ body insisted that “access…

Eight Cork parishes will be the first to provide a secure online donation system in the diocese of Cork and Ross. In an online statement, the diocese explained that the new measures were being trialled to combat the “substantial reduction” to priests’ salaries and parish incomes. Before the pandemic, “people have made it possible for…

Tributes have been paid to a late priest-philosopher who helped form generations of both priests and lay students at Maynoooth. Fr Donal Daly SVD – who was 84 – died “peacefully and patiently” after what confrères described as a long illness. Born in Fermoy in Co. Cork in 1936, he entered the noviciate of the…

The body of a Belfast priest was recovered from Detroit river five days after a freak accident capsized the boat he was travelling on. Fr Stephen Rooney, PP of St Joseph’s, Trenton, Illinois, and one other passenger went missing on Sunday, August 16. Their fishing charter overturned when it hit a submerged rock in the Detroit river’s channel,…