Iona Institute

The Iona Institute promotes heterosexual marriage and opposes the extension of the right to marry to same-sex couples. The group previously opposed the introduction of civil partnerships.[9] The group says that children do best when raised by a mother and father, citing a study by Douglas Allen and others published in the journal Demography in 2012.[26] This position has been challenged by groups such as the American Psychological Association, whose stated position is that "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".[27][28] The Iona Institute has been accused of misrepresenting the research which underpins its position opposing same-sex marriage.[27] The group was also criticised for invalid interpretations of data to back its claims.[29]

In December 2012 the group released a video on YouTube saying 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. Its director, David Quinn, alleged censorship. The video was subsequently parodied by activists in favour of same-sex marriage.[30]

On 13 May 2015, in the run up to Ireland's same-sex marriage referendum held on 22 May 2015, Irish historian John A Murphy, wrote to The Irish Times. In his letter, he described the constitutional amendment, which permitted same sex marriage and extended constitutional protection to families based on such marriages, as "grotesque nonsense."[31] Following this, Iona Director, David Quinn tweeted "Proposed change to marriage 'grotesque nonsense'. ...Great letter by Prof John A Murphy in @IrishTimes today." Quinn was criticised for this tweet by LGBT rights activist Panti, who wrote: "I can think of lots of things that are grotesque. Extending constitutional protection to all families is not one of them. ...I would call it 'fair', 'reasonable', 'compassionate', 'considerate', 'respectful', or even 'the very least we can do'. But not 'grotesque.'"[32]

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%.[33] However, the report was criticised by Fergus Finlay because it used figures from the 1986 census (before divorce was legalised in Ireland),[10] and that the figures actually suggest that marriage breakdown had been slowing down since the 1990s.[10] A 2010 report by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) states that "[t]he evidence suggests no significant upward shift in marital breakdown as a result of the advent of divorce in 1997".[34]

In its submission to the Constitutional Convention, in opposition to same-sex marriage[35] the group cited a 2002 study conducted by the American non-governmental organisation Child Trends. In its submission, the organisation summarised the report stating that "Research clearly demonstrates that family structure matters for children, and the family structure that helps the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage…". Issues were subsequently raised in the Irish Senate as to the accuracy of the report and a response by Carol Emig, president of Child Trends, wrote to the convention and stated that "This Child Trends brief summarizes research conducted prior to 2002, when neither same-sex parents nor adopted parents were identified in large national surveys. Therefore, no conclusions can be drawn from this research about the well-being of children raised by same-sex partners or adoptive parents."[36][37]

In 2007 the Institute issued a policy document entitled Tax Individualisation: Time for a Critical Treatment which criticised the government's policy of tax individualisation for married couples as favoring women who choose to work over those who stay at home.[38] The document claimed that families where only one parent stayed at home were discriminated against by the current tax individualisation policy.

In May 2011, the group hosted a conference entitled "Women, home and work: Towards a policy that’s fair to all families", which highlighted the social policies that it says 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.[39][40]

In March 2009, the organisation commissioned a survey by polling company Red C which showed that only 47% of the population wished to send their children to a Roman Catholic school.[41]

At 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.[42] Section 37 allows government-funded religious schools and hospitals to discriminate against any employee on any basis except gender if having the employee is "undermining the religious ethos" of the institution.[43] David Quinn, the director of the institute, said that removing the discrimination exemption "could impact very severely on the freedom of action of faith-based schools".[42] This section has been opposed by the Irish National Teachers' Organisation since its introduction.[42][44]

The Iona institute also believes that employees should not be required to act against their Catholic beliefs by employers. For example, in April 2010, the group 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.[45]

In September 2019, David Quinn and Maria Steen wrote opinion pieces in national newspapers questioning climate change activists and their refusal to consider the economic impacts of climate change activism on its own. Steen compared some activists to a pagan cult. [46][47]