Atheist Ireland

Atheist Ireland

3 October 2021

Free Iranian blogger Soheil Arabi

Over 200 secular activists and groups have called for today, Sunday 3 October, to be recognised as International #SoheilDay in solidarity with Soheil Arabi, an atheist political prisoner in Iran. The campaign is run by Maryam Namazie and Jimmy Bangash of the Council of Ex-Muslims...

30 September 2021

The proposed new bank holiday should be inclusive not religious

If the Government is to introduce a new bank holiday, it should not be named after or associated with any religious or atheistic figure or belief. It should simply be an inclusive public holiday for everybody, regardless of their religious beliefs or nonreligious philosophical convictions....

19 September 2021

International funding of political campaigns against sexual and reproductive rights

This article covers: Part 1 — Funding of Political Campaigns of Religious Bodies Part 2 — EPF Report on International Funding of Religious Bodies Part 3 — EPF Report on Agenda Europe Discussion Document Part 4 — Protecting Democracy from Big Money Between Elections Part...

8 September 2021

Zappone scandal shows need to protect legal definition of political purposes

The Katherine Zappone scandal shows quite clearly what everybody knows: that most political influence is sought and granted or not between elections, not merely during the few weeks of a formal election or referendum campaign. That is why Atheist Ireland is lobbying to strengthen, not...

7 September 2021

The Department of Education misuses public funds for in-service training of religion teachers

Atheist Ireland has written to the Minister for Education and the Comptroller and Auditor General about the misuse of public funds for in-service training of religion teachers in conjunction with Roman Catholic Diocesan Advisers. This is the letter that we have sent to the Minister....

22 August 2021

The implications for parents’ rights of the anti-abortion video shown in Tipperary school

Atheist Ireland has written the following letter to the Oireachtas joint committee on Education, about not attending Religious Instruction in schools, and the recent anti-abortion video shown in a school. We would like the Committee to take the following into account when it reaches the...

19 August 2021

Atheist Ireland meets Lord Mayor of Dublin

Atheist Ireland this week became the first atheist group to meet with the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alison Gilliland, as part of the traditional greeting meetings that take at the start of a new Lord Mayor’s term of office. Typically these meetings include the President,...

15 August 2021

The anti-abortion school video, the Catholic church, the PDST, and the Department of Education

According to an article in the Sunday independent today, a religion teacher in the Ursuline secondary school in Tipperary played an anti-abortion and unscientific video to students. This is relevant to an issue that Atheist Ireland wrote about three years ago, when we sought information...

3 August 2021

Irish Government says religious oaths are “necessary in a democratic society”

It is disgraceful that the Irish Government is arguing at the European Court of Human Rights that the religious oath for President and members of the Council of State are “necessary in a democratic society.” The Government is contesting a legal challenge to the religious...

30 July 2021

What will Ireland’s Special Envoy to the UN on Freedom of Expression actually do?

Obviously there should have been a transparent procedure to select Ireland’s Special Envoy to the UN on Freedom of Expression. But a more important issue is what does the job consist of, and why was the position created? A Government spokesman said that the Special...