Campaigns

28 January 2022

Minister for Education replies to Atheist Ireland about religion in schools and anti-abortion video

The Minister for Education Norma Foley has replied to a letter from Atheist Ireland about the right to not attend religious instruction in schools and a recent anti-abortion video shown in a school. Here is the Minister’s reply and our reply to her. Letter from...

2 January 2022

The next Irish census this April will confirm the rise of the nonreligious

The next Irish census will take place on 3 April 2022. It was postponed from last year due to the Covid pandemic. Atheist Ireland will be running a campaign asking people to answer the flawed religion question accurately, based on your current religious or nonreligious...

28 November 2021

Another busy year for Atheist Ireland

Atheist Ireland has had another busy year, culminating in our Annual General Meeting yesterday which was held online. Here is a summary of some of our activities over the past twelve months. As well as the national activities below, we support atheist and secular groups...

18 November 2021

The political campaign continues to remove the religious oaths in the Irish constitution

The religious oaths in the Irish Constitution for President and members of the Council of State still contravene human rights law, and today’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights has not found otherwise. Indeed, the European Court has previously found in the cases...

7 November 2021

Support the campaign for the State to own and manage the new National Maternity Hospital

Atheist Ireland joined a meeting this week of women’s rights groups and secular groups that want the State to own and manage the new National Maternity Hospital. The meeting was convened by Jo Tully, chairperson of the Campaign Against Church Ownership of Women’s Healthcare. This...

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...

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,...

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...