Here are ten important points about the right to not attend religious instruction in Irish schools. This right is enshrined in Article 44.2.4 of the Irish Constitution. Its purpose was and is to protect religious minorities in the education system.
Constitutional rights are not worth the paper they are written on if they are given no practical application on the ground or state funding. That responsibility lies with the state, because where there is a right there is a duty on the state.
What is Article 44.2.4?
Article 44.2.4 states that:
Legislation providing State aid for schools shall not discriminate between schools under the management of different religious denominations, nor be such as to affect prejudicially the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending religious instruction at that school.
10 important points about Article 44.2.4
- Article 44.2.4 starts with the word ‘Legislation’. Because of Article 15.2.1 only the Oireachtas can make legislation (the sole and exclusive power of making laws for the State is hereby vested in the Oireachtas: no other legislative authority has power to make laws for the State). This means that the Oireachtas is responsible for the right to not attend religious instruction, not schools or teachers or even patron bodies.
- Not attending religious instruction under Article 44.2.4 is a condition of state aid to schools. Schools take the state aid with constitutional conditions, so they have agreed to those conditions. The Oireachtas has no oversight of this constitutional condition for state aid, and it is not reflected in the Education Act 1998.
- The Irish-language version of 44.2.4 takes legal precedence because of Article 25.4.6 of the Constitution (in case of conflict between the texts of a law enrolled under this section in both the official languages, the text in the national language shall prevail).
- The Irish translation of ‘religious instruction’ is ‘teagasc creidimh’, which translates directly into religious teaching, and the Irish translation of not ‘attending’ religious instruction translates to not ‘being present’ at the teaching of religion (see more details below).
- Article 44.2.4 is in the ‘Religion’ section of the Constitution, not the ‘Education’ section. The Supreme Court held that Article 42.1 (the inalienable right of parents in relation to the education of their children) which is in the ‘Education’ section, must be read in the context of Article 44.2.4.
- Article 44.2.4 is in the section of the Constitution that deals with freedom of conscience and religion.
- Under Article 44.2.4, legislation is not permitted to do harm to the right of any child to attend a school in receipt of state aid and not attend religious instruction.
- Article 44.2.4 recognises that religious bodies can manage schools that receive state aid, and the state cannot discriminate between different religious denominations.
- Article 44.2.4 does not refer specifically to a religion class at a particular time slot. It refers to not attending ‘religious instruction’, which is any ‘religious teaching’.
- Two pieces of legislation are meant to reflect Article 44.2.4. Section 30.2(e) of the Education Act 1998 and also Section 7 of the Intermediate Education (Ireland) Act 1878 which has not been repealed. Section 7 refers to second level schools, and it clearly says that no pupil shall remain in attendance at religious instruction.
Are you, like us, wondering what happened to your Constitutional right?
Why is the Irish-language version important?
As referred to in point 3 above, the Irish-language version of 44.2.4 takes legal precedence because of Article 25.4.6 of the Constitution (in case of conflict between the texts of a law enrolled under this section in both the official languages, the text in the national language shall prevail):
The Irish version of Article 44.2.4 states that:
Reachtaíocht lena gcuirtear cúnamh stáit ar fáil do scoileanna ní cead idirdhealú a dhéanamh intiidir scoileanna atá faoi bhainistí aicmí creidimh seachas a chéile ná í do dhéanamh dochair do cheart aon linbh chun scoil a gheibheann airgead poiblí a fhreastal gan teagasc creidimh sa scoil sin a fhreastal
The following translation is from ‘Bunreacht na hÉireann: a study of the Irish text’, written by Micheál Ó Cearúil and published in 1999 by All Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution.
Article 44.2.4 (right to not attend religious instruction when funding schools)
- ‘Legislation .. shall not discriminate’ is expressed as ‘ní cead’, or ‘it is not permitted to’.
- ‘To affect prejudicially’ is expressed as ‘dhéanamh dochair do’, or ‘do harm to’.
- ‘Attend’ is expressed as ‘A fhreastal’. Ó Dónaill cites ‘an scoil a fhreastal, to attend school’ and ‘freastal ar léachtaí, to attend lectures’ as examples of ‘freastail’, ‘attend’, in the sense of ‘be present at’.
- ‘Religious Instruction’ is expressed as ‘Teagasc creidimh’. ‘Teagasc’ is translated as ‘teaching, instruction’ by Ó Dónaill, who cites ‘teagasc ábhair, teaching of a subject’.