Religion

15 June 2022

State funding of Catholic-run schools comes with constitutional conditions that are ignored

With the attitude of the Catholic bishops over divesting schools, you could be forgiven for believing that the Irish Constitution explicitly sanctioned the funding of Catholic-run schools and without any conditions. The reasons that there are so many Catholic schools is because of religious privilege...

6 May 2022

Atheist Ireland meeting with Department of Education and NCCA May 2022

Atheist Ireland met with Department of Education and NCCA on 6 May 2022 to discuss the misuse of public funds with regard to the teaching of religion in Irish schools. This is the presentation that we made to that meeting. [pdf-embedder url="https://atheistireland.demoworkspace.info/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AI-Dept-Ed-Mtg-Slides.pdf" title="AI Dept Ed...

31 March 2022

The State should not give the Catholic Church control of state-funded hospitals

The Irish Constitution was heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. There are Articles in the Irish Constitution that favour religion and protect the interests of religious institutions. There are Constitutional reasons why governments should not fund religious institutions to deliver public services. Publicly funded hospitals...

15 March 2022

The National Maternity Hospital and the Catholic Bishops’ Code of Ethics for Healthcare

Atheist Ireland has made the following submission to the Joint Oireachtas Health Committee on Constitutional issues regarding the National Maternity Hospital and the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Code of Ethical Standards for Healthcare. Contents 1. Introduction to Atheist Ireland 2. Article 44.2.5 of the Constitution and...

10 February 2022

Defence Forces report calls for updating Chaplaincy and ending Catholic masses at induction

Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland welcome that the Report of the Commission of the Defence Forces, published yesterday, has recommended that: A number of outdated practices should be discontinued, including but not limited to the convening...

6 February 2022

The making of ‘Debutante’ and the power of film

‘Debutante’, a short Irish film about religious control and coming-of-age, has had a wonderful reaction since it was completed last year. It won Best Irish Fiction Short at the Kerry International Film Festival, and has three nominations for the Richard Harris International Film Festival. In...

26 January 2022

New research report is devastating for Catholic school ethos

A report by Genesis published this week by Catholic education groups shows clearly that the Catholic Church’s control over State-funded schools in Ireland must end. The results are devastating for State funding of Catholic schools, contrary to the misleading spin its publishers are pushing. The...

23 January 2022

Catholic Schools Week is evangelising, not welcoming or inclusive

The Irish Times has published an article about this week’s Catholic Schools Week by Marie Griffin, chairperson of the Catholic Education Partnership. The article claims that Catholic Schools are places where everyone, of all faiths and none, is accepted and welcomed. If Catholic Schools wanted...

26 December 2021

Misuse of public funds regarding religious instruction in schools Part 3 of 3

Atheist Ireland has sent a major report to the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee. We are arguing that the Department of Education and the NCCA are misusing public funds by ignoring constitutional conditions about the right to not attend religious...

26 December 2021

Misuse of public funds regarding religious instruction in schools Part 2 of 3

Atheist Ireland has sent a major report to the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee. We are arguing that the Department of Education and the NCCA are misusing public funds by ignoring constitutional conditions about the right to not attend religious...