Six out of 10 couples seeking fertility treatment are trying to conceive a second child, a leading fertility doctor has said. This is a symptom of the fact that many couples are now having their first children in their late 30s.

The number of births to women in their late 40s is increasing, with figures from the Central Statistics Office showing a record high of 408 babies born to mothers aged 45 or over in 2023.

Dr Ahmed Omar, medical director at Beacon Care Fertility, said the surge in births among women over 45 is likely due to two main factors: IVF treatment using donor eggs, which typically come from younger women; and, the growing use of egg freezing.

He estimates that donor eggs account for most of the increase in older births.

At his clinic, nearly two-thirds of patients are now seeking treatment for secondary infertility.

He sees people who had their first child in their later 30s without fertility help.

But, by the time they are trying for their second baby, they are in their 40s, and then it becomes difficult.

“That’s why we could argue six out of 10 of the couples that we see are not having problems with the first pregnancy, it’s the second pregnancy.”

Archbishop Eamon Martin has urged parents to make their voices heard on a national survey of school choice or risk that choice being taken away from them.

“Parents, who value their current school ethos, should be sure to fill-in this short survey.  Otherwise, the choice of future school provision will be made for them”, the Archbishop said.

 “The Catholic Church does not wish to have a monopoly on education, and we encourage all those eligible to participate in the survey to do so.  At the same time, a faith-based education can be highly valuable for young people today.”

Dr Marie Griffin, the Chairperson of the Catholic Education Partnership (CEP), also urged parents to fill out the survey, saying it is vital that those who value Catholic schools to participate. “If Catholic parents and guardians want Catholic schools for their children, then they need to respond to the survey to that effect. Parents must vote now to secure patronage choice for the future.”

Catholic primary schools currently educate 88.3% of pupils, but 109 have closed in the past decade while 59 multi-denominational schools have opened. With enrolments expected to fall almost nationwide due to a declining birth rates, more closures and amalgamations are expected.

A biological man who identifies as a woman has been granted leave by the High Court to challenge the State’s refusal to recognise him as the ‘mother’ of his child.

The British-born, Irish citizen, who is legally a woman under UK law, used his frozen sperm to have a baby with his British wife after his transition.

He is seeking Irish citizenship for the child with the claim that he is the child’s biological ‘mother’.

The State refused allegedly on the basis that the woman who gave birth to the child is its mother.

He said if he has to claim to be the “father” of the child as part of the application, it would be an “offensive, discriminatory and unjust attack” on his person, gender identity and legal status.

He added it would also be an unjust attack “on the State’s obligation to protect the family as the natural and fundamental unit group of society”.

Ms Justice Sara Phelan granted the petitioner leave for judicial review of the matter and adjourned the case to January.

Each year there is on average one complaint for every thousand schools involving non-Catholic children who feel excluded in Catholic primary schools.

This comes despite a rampant belief that such exclusion is widespread.

In response to a press enquiry, the Catholic Primary School Management Association (CPSMA) said they received “less than five” such complaints in the last two years.

The CPSMA oversees more than 2,800 primary schools.

They field up to 17,000 inquiries every year from parents, teachers and management on a broad range of issues from staff relations, behaviours of concern, admissions and opt-outs.

David Quinn quoted the figures in his Sunday Independent column at the weekend.

Scotland’s Catholic bishops and pro-life groups have raised alarms about the effects a proposed assisted suicide/euthanasia bill on disabled and vulnerable people after a number of key amendments were rejected.

One amendment would have restricted eligibility to those with six months or less to live. Another would have required the provision of a fully funded palliative care support plan as an alternative to euthanasia.

The head of the Scottish bishops’ conference, Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, said: “It will also not exclude a person whose primary motivation for their request is among [the] following nonterminal conditions: eating disorders; intellectual disabilities, including but not limited to [Down] syndrome; mood disorders, including but not limited to depression; anxiety disorders; the receipt of any disability or sickness-related benefits, including but not limited to Adult Disability Payment, or any equivalent welfare payment; loneliness or social isolation; financial hardship or low income; feelings of being a burden to others; poor or unsuitable housing conditions; any other mental health condition or developmental disorder that is not a terminal illness.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined a hearing to overturn its 2015 decision to impose same-sex marriage on all fifty US states.

That controversial decision overturned democratically passed state laws and federal legislation.

Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky, petitioned the Court to reconsider the 2015 Obergefell ruling, and also hear her case 10 years after she made headlines for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

She had served multiple days in jail for contempt of court for violating a judicial order to issue the marriage licenses and was ordered to pay more than $360,000 in damages and legal fees for violating a same-sex couples’ right to marry.

Mary Rice Hasson of the Ethics and Public Policy Center said the case was not the right vehicle to reconsider the Obergefell decision.

Islamic militants killed at least 10 Christians last Monday, including a Pentecostal pastor, in Benue state, Nigeria, local residents said.

The middle belt of Nigeria has seen increasing sectarian attacks as militants from the majority Muslim North, including Fulani herdsmen, encroach upon the majority Christian south where the land owning farmers tend to be Christian. Church leaders frequently complain that the Government is not doing enough to protect local people.

The Rev. Simon Nbach of Flaming Fire Ministry and the other Christians were massacred in the attack on Anwule Oglewu village of Ohimini County as farmers were working in their fields, residents said. The assailants also burned down a Catholic Church building and destroyed dozens of homes.

“The pastor’s corpse has been found, alongside two other corpses of two other Christians, Adoya Ejigai, and Ejeh Loko,” area resident Casmir Eigege told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “So far, 10 Christians have been confirmed dead, and one other Christian was abducted by the herdsmen.”

Eigege identified the attackers as Fulani herdsmen.

Two hundred empty wheelchairs arranged meticulously in a Roman piazza last week with a direct and unsettling message: “Non mi uccidere” (“Don’t kill me”) symbolised a powerful campaign against legalising assisted-suicide/euthanasia in Italy.

In 2022, Italy’s lower house passed a bill facilitating a right to request ‘medical assistance in dying’ where the patient has an irreversible illness, is enduring ‘intolerable’ suffering, and is being kept alive by medical treatments, as is extremely common with seriously ill people.

However, the legislation has ben stalled in the Senate for the past three years..

According to the organisers of the protest, the 200 empty wheelchairs represent the sick, disabled, elderly, and vulnerable people who “are asking Parliament for more care, more rights, more dignity but are instead faced with cynical shortcuts to death.”

“Only 33pc of those entitled to palliative care” have access to it, “with some Italian regions where coverage drops to as low as 4pc-5pc.” This figure leaves thousands of families without health care assistance.

Italy has begun a “drift toward assisted suicide that could lead to a veritable state-sanctioned massacre of the sick, the elderly living alone, the depressed, and people with disabilities,” said ProVita & Famiglia.

The Finance Minster has dismissed policies to boost Ireland’s fertility rate in response to a report detailing the demographic and financial challenges of a rapidly ageing population and a fertility collapse.

The country faces a surge in the number of older people as a proportion of the population, falling tax revenues and increased fiscal deficits, as the fertility rate has fallen to 1.5, well below the 2.1 replacement rate, according to the new report by the Department of Finance.

‘Future Forty’ outlines potential scenarios between now and 2065, by which time almost half of the State’s expenditure will be on age-related spending including healthcare, long term care and pensions.

The report says there will be a “stagnating labour force suppressing economic growth”, while advocating that, “Continued inward migration will be vital to maintain growth in the labour force.”

He added that the Government’s focus was on affordability and access to daycare rather than measures to encourage higher birth rates.

The Irish Bishops are encouraging eligible parents to participate in a Department of Education survey on school choice at primary level.

“It is important that all those who wish for a Catholic and sacramental education for their children, and those who wish for a multi-denominational education, to make their wishes known so that proper planning for future educational provision can take place”, said Marie Griffin, chairperson of the Catholic Education Partnership.

In what will be the largest ever national survey of its kind, the parents or guardians of all children from birth to 12 years of age will be asked what the type of primary school they would like their child to attend, whether faith-based or secular.

Parents will also be asked for their preference when it comes to single sex or mixed, and instruction in English or Irish.

A total of 493,000 households will be invited to fill out the online questionnaire, which went live at 12pm yesterday and will run until 16 December.

A separate questionnaire will seek the views of teachers and members of school boards of management.