David Quinn is an Irish social and religious commentator. From 1996 to 2003, he was the editor at ''

The Irish Catholic ''The Irish Catholic'' is a 40-page Irish weekly newspaper providing news and commentary about the Catholic Church. The newspaper is privately owned by editor-in-chief Garry O’Sullivan, managed by a private limited company and independent of ...

''. He served as the religious and social affairs correspondent for the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'' from 2003 to 2005. He has often appeared on Irish current affairs programmes. Since 2007, Quinn has been the Director of the Iona Institute advocacy group. Quinn has campaigned against the liberalisation of Irish abortion laws, the introduction of same-sex marriage and the legalisation of assisted suicide. He is a member of the

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

branch of Legatus, which promotes Catholic values in corporate business, for those who meet stringent qualification criteria. He was educated at

St Paul's College, Raheny St Paul's College in Raheny, Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, is a Roman Catholic Education in the Republic of Ireland, secondary school Single-sex education#Ireland, for boys under the trusteeship of the Vincentian Fathers, formally the ...

and studied at NIHE Dublin (now

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) ( ga, Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a university based on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin'' in 1975, it enrolled its f ...

), graduating with a degree in Business Studies. He is also a regular contributor to the Irish edition of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

''.

Activities

Iona Institute

In January 2007 Quinn founded the Iona Institute, a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

advocacy group promoting the practice of religion and families based on traditional marriage. He is the current Director of the Iona Institute.

Abortion

Quinn supported Ireland's previous near total ban on abortion, and has appeared many times in media debates on the topic of abortion in Ireland, to defend the Eighth Amendment.

Euthanasia

Quinn has campaigned against the legalisation of

euthanasia Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...

LGBT rights

Quinn has spoken in favour of Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act, which allows religious schools to discriminate, and fire employees who don't match their ethos, which can be used to fire gay teachers in Catholic schools, with the Iona Institute recommending that it be kept. He is opposed to Ireland's Gender Recognition Act for

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

people. In 2010, he was opposed to legal recognition of same-sex in the form of civil partnerships. He campaigned unsuccessfully for a No vote in the 2015 same-sex marriage referendum. In the course of the referendum campaign, Professor

John A. Murphy John A. Murphy (17 January 1927 – 28 February 2022) was an Irish historian and senator. He was professor of history at University College Cork (UCC). Biography Murphy was born in Macroom, County Cork, and has said he was very bookish as a boy ...

, an Irish historian and former member of Seanad Éireann, 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.". Following this, Mr Quinn tweeted "Proposed change to marriage "grotesque nonsense"... Great letter by Prof John A Murphy in @IrishTimes today #MarRef". Mr Quinn was criticised for this Tweet by drag queen and

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 3 ...

activist

Rory O'Neill Rory O'Neill (born 16 November 1968), also known by his stage names Panti, Panti Bliss and Pandora Panti Bliss, is a drag queen and gay rights activist from Ballinrobe, County Mayo, Ireland. Early life O'Neill, the son of a veterinary sur ...

(also known by his stage name, Panti Bliss), 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'."

Climate change denial

Quinn is highly outspoken in his denial of both the severity of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and the role that humans have played in perpetuating the Climate crisis. Many of his objections to climate action - from carbon taxes to cutting emissions - focus solely on the economic impact that such actions would have. This is despite overwhelming evidence that climate action will ultimately create jobs and cost less than not taking action. In 2014 he made claims that the Irish Government would need to permit fracking in Ireland to address the growing demand for energy, while also sharing his opinion that the 2007 IPCC report was inaccurate. The Houses of the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...

subsequently published a report into the harmful effects on environment and humans that fracking could have in Ireland, which led to a law being passed in 2017 banning the practice of fracking in Ireland. In 2019, Quinn was noted for his outspoken comments targeting climate activist

Greta Thunberg Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation. Thunberg's activism began when she persuaded ...

, using his appearances on radio stations and his social media channels to attack the youth climate movement.

References

External links

David Quinn's columns in the Irish Independent
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, David Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Conservatism in Ireland Daily Mail journalists Irish columnists Irish Independent people Irish newspaper editors Irish anti-abortion activists Irish Roman Catholics Business Post people The Wall Street Journal people Alumni of Dublin City University People educated at St Paul's College, Raheny Irish anti-same-sex-marriage activists