Atheist Ireland to register with Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO)
Atheist Ireland will register this year with the Standards in Public Office Commission. The Standards in Public Office Commission is an independent body established in December 2001 by the Standards in Public Office Act 2001. It has six members and is chaired by a former Judge of the High Court. ...
A hundred religious symbols hanging on a wall?
With Kerry County Council hanging a crucifix in the chamber and the recent report from the Dept. of Education regarding the proposal to hang religious symbols on classroom walls, we thought we would publish a list of some of the religious bodies in the country. We got this list under ...
Atheist Ireland to brief UN Human Rights Committee about Ireland’s failure to protect rights of Atheists and Secularists
This July Ireland will be examined by the UN Human Rights Committee under the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights. By ratifying this UN Treaty Ireland has guaranteed to protect the Human Rights guaranteed in the Treaty to all within its territory. Atheist Ireland will be attending this session ...
The Political Sin of Vincible Ignorance
The Chair of Atheist Ireland’s Cavan/Monaghan Branch John Hamill writing on the Taoiseach, the canonization of Pope John Paul, Mormons, Saint Anthony of Padua and Senator Ronan Mullen. By John Hamill While the Taoiseach was taking his place during the ceremony in Rome to canonize the late Pope John Paul ...
‘Parental Choice’ in education is a euphemism for religious segregation
In a speech yesterday the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said that pluralism is something we should welcome. He said that, “The Catholic children of the Ireland of the future will live in a climate of pluralism and must learn not to fear pluralism but to be able proudly and ...
Why the Catholic Church cannot give Ruairi Quinn examples of inclusive schools.
Last week the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn caused a bit of a stir when he said that the Catholic Church had not supplied any examples of how their schools are inclusive. The Catholic Church claims that their schools are inclusive but failed to give any examples of ...
Why religious education must be neutral and objective, and how the Irish State is ignoring our human rights
Ireland is due to appear before the UN Human Rights Committee in July this year. The UN have asked Ireland to explain what it is doing to protect minorities in Irish schools and how many non-denominational schools has it established since 2008. It seems that the Irish State is again ...
The Equality Authority is seeking Submissions on the Proposed amendment to Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act 1998-2011.
The Equality Authority has given some background to the Proposed Amendment:- “Background You may also be aware that The Programme for Government stated: “People of non-faith or minority religious backgrounds and publicly identified LGBT people should not be deterred from training or taking up employment as teachers in the State”. ...
Give your views on the Separation of Church and State to the Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention are holding public meetings throughout Ireland to get the views of the public on changing the Constitution. You can give your views on Constitutional issues for consideration in the next phase of the Convention’s agenda. The first public meeting will be held in Cork next Wednesday 23rd ...
Report from the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism
Last Tuesday 10th April the Minister for Education & Skills released the Report from the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism. http://www.education.ie/home/home.jsp?maincat=&pcategory=10861&ecategory=10876§ionpage=12251&language=EN&link=link001&page=1&doc=56996 The Minister for Education & Skills has asked that the interested parties examine the report and take time to reflect on and digest the recommendations. The Minister will outline ...