The Dail yesterday voted to force all TDs to stand for a Christian prayer every day, asking Christ Our Lord to direct every word and action of theirs, and to force the Ceann Comhairle to read the prayer aloud. Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the...
Atheist Ireland thanks the TDs who spoke in favour of separation of Church and State in the Dail last night, and in support of the equal right of every citizen to freedom of religion or nonreligious belief. While still a minority in the Dail, they...
Atheist Ireland has learned that the Department of Education and Skills is to issue new guidelines on the teaching of religion at post-primary level. This follows an engagement between a parent who is a member of Atheist Ireland and the ETB sector, with regard to...
Fintan O’Toole writes today in the Irish Times about how the word ‘ethos’ is used in Irish schools to justify imposing arbitrary rules, based on the personal religious beliefs of those in authority. He points out that in the 1882 Eileen Flynn case, the school...
An Irish nun was excommunicated after she sanctioned an abortion to save a woman’s life in a Catholic hospital in Arizona in 2009. She was later allowed to return to the Church if she went to confession and resigned her position in the hospital. The...
The Irish State is planning to give a €300 million National Maternity Hospital to the Sisters of Charity. The Minister for Health has said that “only doctors and other healthcare professionals would make decisions about women’s health in the planned new Hospital.” However, the Sisters...
Much of the commentary about the new National Maternity Hospital has focussed on money. It is of course outrageous that the State would gift a brand new hospital, worth hundred of millions of euro, to a religious order which still owes millions of euro to...
The Ceann Comhairle of the Dail, Sean O Fearghail TD, has replied to Atheist Ireland’s letter about the Dail prayer. He has confirmed that the proposal that was scheduled for Tuesday will now instead be put to the house on its return after the Easter...
Update: following lobbying from Atheist Ireland and opposition from secular TDs, the Dail business committee decided today to postpone this vote until 2nd May, in order to allow time for debate. Please continue to contact your TDs about this between now and then. At 2.30...
The Irish State has put in place laws that enable religious organisations (mainly the Catholic Church) to campaign on political issues such as the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution and religious control of schools. But ethical secular organisations, including Atheist Ireland, get no such benefit...
