Michael Nugent and Jane Donnelly of Atheist Ireland are today calling for an ethical secular State at a meeting of the Dialogue Process between the Taoiseach, the Government, Churches, and Non-confessional Bodies, in Dublin Castle. The meeting is addressing three themes: Effective Structured Dialogue, Inclusive...
President Michael D Higgins has today appointed seven citizens to the Council of State, which advises the President on various issues. Again, these appointments have excluded conscientious atheists as candidates. This is because, in order to take office as members of the Council of State...
Michael Nugent gave this speech today, Friday 29 March 2019, at the Days of Atheism Conference in Warsaw, Poland. When Atheist Ireland was founded ten years ago, our first task was simply to normalise the use of the words atheism and secularism in public debate....
Atheist Ireland has made the following submission to the Public Consultation Process on the Establishment of a New Electoral Commission. Once it has been considered, the submission will be published on the website of the Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government. Recommendations The SIPO...
The Catholic Bishops are complaining that applicants for two new medical posts at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin will be required to carry out elective abortions if appointed. The Bishops say that this “totally undermines the whole concept of freedom of conscience which was...
The Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan, has advised Atheist Ireland that the Bill designed to give legal effect to the outcome of last year’s blasphemy referendum has been forwarded from the Department of Justice to the Office of the Attorney General for formal Drafting. It...
The Irish Times (editorial, Jan 16th) is correct to warn that allowing foreign political donations could have negative consequences for our democracy. It is also correct to highlight the similarities between funding election campaigns and funding political lobbying between elections. Atheist Ireland is a small...
One of Atheist Ireland’s main campaigns this year is One Oath For All, a campaign to remove from the Constitution the religious oath that Presidents, Judges, and members of the Council of State must swear. Many people are unaware that this oath encompasses the Taoiseach,...
Atheist Ireland is today launching a ‘One Oath For All’ campaign, to enable conscientious atheists to hold the office of President, Judge, Taoiseach, or other members of the Council of State. Today Michael D Higgins will begin his second term as President, after fourteen elections...
The case in which a woman was convicted in Austria for describing Muhammad as a paedophile, and in which the European Court of Human Rights did not overrule the judgment of the Austrian Courts, is both dangerous for human rights and widely misunderstood by many...