Atheist Ireland is asking the political parties and candidates, who are contesting the General Election on 8th February, to answer these ten questions about secular policies. We will publish the responses to assist you in deciding who to vote for. Please ask your own local...
UPDATE: The Department of Education has told Atheist Ireland that the Minister for Education gave incorrect information in the response to this parliamentary question. You can read about the updated situation here. The Minister for Education Joe McHugh has confirmed that a quarter of ETB...
We start the new decade with the good news that Ireland no longer has the medieval crime of blasphemy in our laws. Over the Christmas period, President Michael D Higgins signed the Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019, and it has accordingly...
The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, which is protected under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, also protects atheists and nonreligious philosophical convictions such as secularism. The Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg in France, oversees the European Convention,...
Our good friend Nic Johnson is nearing the end of his exceptional 85 years of life. He has spent most of those years promoting atheism, humanism, and secularism with passion and integrity. Before he moved to Ireland, he campaigned for abortion rights in America, during...
The NCCA has failed to recommend that the Education Act be amended to ensure that students get objective sex education that is not influenced by a religious school ethos. Its new report has simply described the problem of ethos, instead of addressing how to resolve...
[David Kaye is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the freedom of opinion and expression. His recommendations form part of this document] Atheist Ireland has made the following submission to the Department of Justice’s consultation on hate crime and hate...
Michael Nugent was on Newstalk Radio this week, debating whether religion should be made compulsory in Irish schools. Alan Whelan of the Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Partnership argued that it should be. Religion should not be compulsory in Irish schools, because it would be a...
It is important that Ireland completes the process of removing the crime of blasphemy from our laws as well as our constitution. The Bill designed to do this is currently at the Office of the Attorney General for formal drafting. A report published today on...
The Government is using a procedure called a Money Message to block over 50 Bills that have been passed in the Dail by opposition parties, including Solidarity’s Bill to provide Objective Sex Education without interference by a school’s religious ethos. Solidarity and People Before Profit...