Atheist Ireland will be in Geneva this week, to brief UN Human Rights Council members, as all UN countries prepare to question Ireland in May about Ireland’s human rights obligations under all UN treaties. This is one of our most important lobbying interventions since we...
Atheist Ireland has declined an invitation from the Irish Government to attend today’s State Ceremony at the GPO, and State Reception in Dublin Castle, marking the 100th anniversary of the 1916 rising. We welcome the intention of the Government to be inclusive of people of...
Nearly 100 years after the 1916 rising, which supposedly led to Irish independence, the Vatican-run Catholic Church controls the vast majority of our publicly funded schools at both primary and second level. The Irish State cedes control of education to the interests of Patron bodies....
The Department of Education is planning a new primary school course of Education about Religions, Beliefs and Ethics. While this sounds good in theory, it will not be delivered objectively in practice. This is because the Irish State cedes control of the ethos of schools...
How do the political parties in this Friday’s General Election stand on separation of Church and State, with a particular focus on secular education and blasphemy? Atheist Ireland is not asking people to vote for any particular party or candidate. Atheists and secularists are typically...
Atheist Ireland has been selected to speak at a pre-session meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March, as part of the lead-up to the Human Rights Council questioning Ireland about its human rights record in May. During the Pre-session meeting, several...
Jane Donnelly and Michael Nugent took part in a very positive Inter Belief Dialogue conference in Mary Immaculate College Limerick yesterday. There were representatives from the NCCA, which is currently preparing a State course for primary schools about religion, beliefs and ethics, as well as...
Atheist Ireland welcomes the conclusions today from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that Ireland should significantly increase the availability of non-denominational or multi-denominational schools, eliminate discrimination in school admissions including by amending the Equal Status Act, and ensure accessible options for...
Michael Nugent will be speaking at the next World Conference of Rationalist International, on 23-24 April, in the Baltic city of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, a secular EU country. We hope to have some other Atheist Ireland members there also, and we look forward...
This Thursday, in Geneva, Atheist Ireland will be advocating for children in Irish schools, as the UN questions Ireland about its human rights record under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This is our sixth year raising religious discrimination in Ireland with the...