At a meeting today with Atheist Ireland, the Department of Education has confirmed that all students can still opt out of the NCCA State course in religious education in ETB schools, despite the recent Circular Letter suggesting the opposite. However, ETB schools will not be...
We were shocked to read a report in the Irish Times this morning that the Department of Education may be considering a new Circular Letter to ETB schools that would force students to attend the State course in Religious Education against their conscience, contrary to...
Jane Donnelly, Human Rights Officer of Atheist Ireland, made the following speech today at the Be The Change conference in Waterford, organised by Waterford People Before Profit, on Saturday 22 September 2018. Ireland is becoming more secular, because the developed world is becoming more secular....
Atheist Ireland welcomes today’s unopposed vote in the Oireachtas to hold a referendum on 26th October to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution. We have been campaigning for a decade to get this referendum called, and we will campaign for the next...
Solidarity today supported the Bill to hold a referendum to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution, and will be campaigning for a Yes vote in the referendum. Solidarity has formally proposed a removal of the blasphemy provision in their own Bill that...
Repeal the Blasphemy Law Public Meeting When September 15th 2018 Where Buswell’s Hotel 23-27 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2, D02 DT80 Why The Irish Constitution, written in 1937, makes blasphemy an offence punishable by law. there will be a referendum on 26 October (along with the...
While Pope Francis was speaking in Croke Park in Dublin, Jane Donnelly of Atheist Ireland was making the case for a secular education system free from Catholic Church influence. Jane was speaking at a public meeting convened by People Before Profit, about Separation of Church...
Six years ago, Atheist Ireland joined LGBT Noise in a small protest outside the Catholic Church’s Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, against the ongoing efforts by the Vatican to oppose equal civil rights for LGBT people. A lot has changed since then. This week Atheist Ireland...
In the sitcom Dad’s Army, Private Pike is famous for blurting out the truth at inconvenient times, to the annoyance of Captain Mainwaring. In one scene, a German U-Boat Captain asks Pike what his name is. Mainwaring interjects by barking: ‘Don’t tell him, Pike!’ Bishop...
Yet again Ireland is to hold a Presidential election that excludes conscientious atheists as candidates, as in order to take office we would have to swear a religious oath that is in our Constitution. This would force us to dissemble about our beliefs, and breaches...