Last week Atheist Ireland met with Deputy Barry Ward regarding his Private Members Bill about the religious oath for judges in the Irish Constitution (The Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Judicial Oath of Office) Bill 2025). We welcome this bill as a further indication of how a secular state would ...
Barry Ward, Fine Gael TD for Dun Laoghaire, has introduced a bill in the Dáil to amend the religious oath that judges must swear before taking up office. Atheist Ireland welcomes this bill. We have been campaigning for this development since our foundation in 2008. We have lobbied for it ...
Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution singles out religious instruction over the teaching of other school subjects, and makes it the responsibility of the Oireachtas, not the Executive. Article 44.2.4 makes vindicating the right to not attend religious instruction a condition of state aid to schools. When providing state aid to ...
The Department of Education, and school patron bodies, are defying the Constitutional right to not attend religious instruction in publicly funded schools, as well as laws that protect that Constitutional right. In doing this, they use Circular Letters that have no statutory power and that unlawfully redefine Constitutional and statutory ...
Atheist Ireland has written the following letter to Helen McEntee TD, the new Minister for Education, about the commitment to non-denominational education in Programme for Government. Dear Minister McEntee, Congratulations on your new role and we wish you well. You are the ninth Minister for Education we have dealt with, ...
Tá roinnt leathanach tábhachtacha ónár suíomh gréasáin aistrithe go Gaeilge ag Atheist Ireland. Is féidir leat iad a aimsiú ag an nasc seo a leanas: Éire Aindiach Má tá aon mholtaí agat maidir le conas is féidir linn an Ghaeilge a chur san áireamh inár gcuid oibre, fág trácht thíos ...
The Department of Education recently released new figures on second level schools. Media reports last week incorrectly reported that most students are educated in multi-denominational schools. In fact: The vast majority of students (74%) are educated in denominational or interdenominational schools. The High Court has referred to inter-denominational schools as ...
In Ireland there is no effective and accessible means of protecting the right of parents to ensure that the teaching of their children is in conformity with their convictions. There is no regulatory framework of adjudicatory and enforcement machinery protecting individuals’ rights and the implementation, where appropriate, of specific measures ...
Atheism and secularism are philosophical convictions. They are protected by Article 9 of the European convention and Article 44 of the Irish Constitution. They come under the ‘belief’ category in ‘Religion and beliefs’. You can have a religious belief or a philosophical belief; they are both protected by human rights ...
The Department of Education, delegates their duty in relation to students not attending religious instruction to schools. The only excuse they give for this behaviour is that “a one size fits all solution does not suit all parents”. There are no regulations or statutory guidelines in place. The Catholic Church ...