National

24 February 2026

Atheist Ireland Submission to National Conversation on Education

Atheist Ireland has made the following submission to the National Conversation on Education, hosted by the Department of Education. Feel free to use the information here to prepare your own submission to the Conversation. You can make your own submission, at this link, by this...

28 January 2026

Atheist Ireland asks Good Friday Agreement Committee to protect human rights in Irish schools

The Irish government has a duty under the Good Friday Agreement to take “comparable steps” to strengthen human-rights protection in Ireland, in line with developments in Northern Ireland. A recent UK Supreme Court case found that religious education arrangements in Northern Ireland schools breached the...

20 November 2025

The state must positively respect the convictions of nonreligious parents of schoolchildren

In the case yesterday at the Supreme Court in the UK on the Northern Ireland education system, the court found that: The religious education course in Northern Ireland Schools was ‘indoctrination’. Northern Ireland was pursuing an aim of indoctrination by not ‘respecting’ parents’ philosophical beliefs....

19 November 2025

UK Supreme Court rules religious education and worship breaches parents’ and children’s rights

A Supreme Court judgement in the UK today is of great relevance to the Irish education system, and reinforces the points made by Atheist Ireland in a recent article The right to an objective education goes beyond avoiding ‘faith formation‘. The UK Supreme Court case...

19 June 2025

How Irish schools do not respect freedom of conscience, religion, and belief

Atheist Ireland has sent the following submission to the Oireachtas Education Committee on the need for freedom of conscience, religion, and belief in Irish schools Executive Summary This submission addresses the right to freedom of conscience, religion, and belief in the Irish education system. It...

9 May 2025

Oireachtas must oversee Constitutional condition for state aid to schools re religious instruction

Atheist Ireland has made the following submission to the newly established Oireachtas Committee on Public Accounts. Oversight of the Constitutional Condition for State Aid to Schools 1. Summary 2. The Constitutional Condition for State Aid 3. Legislative Responsibility under Article 15 4. Absence of Statutory...

16 May 2023

Atheist Ireland meets with Defence Forces Chaplaincy Review Board

Atheist Ireland met this week with Lt Col Padraig Brennan, chair of the Irish Defence Forces Review of the Chaplaincy service. Here are our thoughts and recommendations that we expressed at the meeting. The Defence Forces website states that “The Defence Forces are committed to...

4 December 2022

Atheist Ireland asks NCCA to recommend change in law for senior cycle SPHE

Atheist Ireland has made the following submission to the NCCA Consultation on the redevelopment of Senior Cycle SPHE. 1. Overview 2. Why legal change is needed 3. Constitutional rights of parents 4. Legal route to course being taught through religious ethos 5. Catholic Church Guidelines...

6 November 2022

Atheist Ireland asks TDs to amend Incitement to Hatred Bill

Atheist Ireland is asking TDs to amend the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 as follows: Please amend the above Bill to: (a) give equal protection to people with religious beliefs, and people with positive nonreligious philosophical convictions including...

11 September 2022

Religion and Belief in the Charities Amendment Bill

Atheist Ireland has made the following submission to the Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands about Religion and Belief in the Charities Amendment Bill. Contents 1. Introduction to Atheist Ireland 2. Our recommendation 3. Amend ‘Religion’ to ‘Religion or...