Contraception has been criticised as an attack on fertility by one of the country's leading Catholic teachers.Professor emeritus of moral theology at Maynooth University Fr Vincent Twomey has hit out at Christian academics who have called for a change in the Church's rules on contraception.
The so-called 'Scholars’ Statement', due to be published in New York tomorrow, says the current Catholic laws have no divine basis and should be scrapped to combat over-population.
The Statement has been signed by more than 100 international Catholic academics, including former President Mary McAleese.
However, Fr Twomey claimed we actually needed to increase the birth rate.
He said: "Contraception is an attack on fertility...European countries have a population which is actually dying. A Jewish scholar I heard recently talked about the 'suicide of Europe'.
"We are not producing enough to enable future generations to continue."