Atheist Ireland has sent the following response to a letter from Bernie McNally, Secretary General of the Department of Education, regarding our correspondence with the Oireachtas Education Committee about the right to not attend religious instruction in schools. Dear Secretary General, We refer to your letter dated 1st of March ...
One of the issues that Atheist Ireland raised in our recent meeting with the Catholic Education Partnership was that schools are refusing to comply with the legal requirement to include in their admission policies arrangements for children who exercise their constitutional right to not attend religious instruction classes. Atheist Ireland has ...
The Court of Appeal found that, when it interprets the obligations of a Board of Management under the Education Act 1998, it must have regard to the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights. Probably no Board of Management in the country is even aware what obligations they have ...
Atheist Ireland had a constructive meeting this week with the Catholic Education Partnership, the body that coordinates Catholic education in Ireland. We met in Maynooth with chief executive officer Alan Hynes and chairperson Marie Griffin, and we have arranged a follow-up meeting to further discuss these issues: The right to ...
Atheist Ireland has written again to the Oireachtas Education Committee regarding an anti-abortion video shown to students during curriculum Religious Education in an Irish school. Here is the letter we have written. We refer to our letter to the Committee on 21st August 2021 regarding, among other issues, an anti-abortion ...
The Court of Appeal in the Burke case has confirmed that schools and teachers cannot impose the values/ethos of the school on students, if those values are against the conscience of their parents. Schools and Patron bodies believe that under Section 9 (d) of the Education Act they are legally ...
Yesterday the Minister for Education, Norma Foley, introduced the New Primary School curriculum framework. You can find the framework here and frequently asked questions here. This new Framework could mean more time spent on religion in primary schools, not less. Officially, the new curriculum reduces the time spend on the ...
Atheist Ireland has written the following letter to the Minister for Education, Norma Foley TD. Dear Minister, You have recently stressed that parents have a right to ensure that their children can withdraw from the updated sex education course on the basis of conscience. But you have not put the ...
Atheist Ireland has written the following letter to the Attorney General about the constitutional right to not attend religious instruction in irish schools. Dear Mr Fanning, We are writing to you in your Constitutional capacity as the adviser of the Government in matters of law and legal opinion. We are ...
The Minister for Education, Norma Foley, has just given a telling example of how the Department of Education gives privilege to religious parents over nonreligious parents in Irish schools. As Carl O'Brien reports in the Irish Times, the Minister has stressed that parents have a right to ensure that their ...