HEA Confirms Large Public Endowments to Catholic Church
At the request of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), the Higher Education Authority (HEA) has arranged a presentation from Atheist Ireland in relation to the probity of contracts awarded to the Roman Catholic Church by third level colleges. New information has been provided to the HEA by Atheist Ireland ...
Catholic schools will not objectively teach new Religions, Beliefs and Ethics course
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 to private Patrons, 90% of whom are ...
Which Irish political parties have the most secular policies?
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 independently-minded people who each value ...
Irish Atheists, Evangelicals and Muslims unite for Secularism at Inter Belief Day
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 speakers from various religious and ...
New UN report issued today vindicates Atheist Ireland schools policy
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 children to opt-out of religious ...
Atheist Ireland in Geneva this week at UN hearing on rights of the child
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 UN, Council of Europe and OSCE. ...
New Equal Participation in Schools Bill from Socialist Party/AAA
The Socialist Party/AAA has submitted a new Equal Participation in Schools Bill, which incorporates proposals from Atheist Ireland and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission on bringing about schools equality. The new Bill will propose fundamental changes to three of the four areas of Atheist Ireland’s Schools Equality PACT ...
Socialist Party/AAA to propose votes today on Atheist Ireland Schools Equality PACT issues
Today the Dail will vote on the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which will protect Catholic LGBT teachers at the expense of reinforcing the right to discriminate against atheist and minority faith teachers of any sexuality. Following a meeting last week with Atheist Ireland, Ruth Coppinger, Paul Murphy and Joe Higgins ...
Why Do Bishops Charge So Much For School Text Books?
"Grow In Love" - 20% more expensive than next priced text book. The Irish Catholic Bishop's Conference, through their agency Veritas Publications, are the monopoly provider of religious text books to all Catholic schools in Ireland. In the context of this monopoly, their new "Grow In Love" text book for ...
Archbishop of Dublin to decide if five year old boys are right kind of Catholic for school
The Admission policy of a publicly funded National School, St. John the Baptist in Clontarf, states that the Archbishop of Dublin, “shall be the person who decides whether a boy is a member of a Church which is in full communion with the Church of Rome or otherwise”. This is ...