Articles Archives | Page 2 of 4

May 1, 2017 No Comments admin

Catholic schools ignore law and policy

Publicly funded schools with a Catholic ethos ignore legislation and policy and successive Ministers for Education have done nothing about it. The Irish State refuses to challenge the Catholic Church even when it means they are clearly ignoring this policy and legislation. In Ireland one of the key issues in ...

April 4, 2017 No Comments admin

Schools pay patron body to supply sample prayer services

CEIST is a second level Catholic Patron Body (Trustee) of 110 publicly funded second level schools. According to their Annual Report for 2015, they received €289,000 in Licence Fees from the 110 schools where they are the Patron. One of the things the schools got for this Licence Fee was ...

December 29, 2016 3 Comments admin

Proposed changes to religious education will not stop evangelisation in schools

It is reported in the Irish Times that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) has made a recommendation to remove Religious Education as a core curriculum area in the Primary School Curriculum. This will not protect minorities from the evangelising mission of the Catholic Church in the education ...

November 29, 2016 No Comments admin

ERB and Ethics: do we now need to opt our children out of this new subject?

The introduction of a new course in Primary Schools about Religions, Beliefs and Ethics has the potential to undermine further the Constitutional and Human Rights of minorities. The legal framework is not in place that would ensure that the course is delivered in accordance with human rights so that the ...

November 1, 2016 No Comments admin

Patronage system undermines the rights of parents and children

The Patronage system has reduced education to a competition for parental preference. It manufactures consent on the basis of a limited choice. Parents and their children are faced with a choice between a limited number of Patron bodies, and these Patron bodies have control over the application of their human ...

October 24, 2016 No Comments admin

Schools Admission Bill will institutionalise religious discrimination

The proposed new Education (Admissions) to Schools Bill 2016 will not remove religious discrimination from our education system and protect human rights. Despite the requirement that the Admissions policies of schools will be obliged to include a statement that they shall not discriminate on religion, publicly funded National schools can ...

October 17, 2016 1 Comment admin

Irish State must protect schoolchildren from sexual abuse and wider abuses of their rights

In an article in the Irish Times it is reported that the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has sent a Submission to the Council of Europe asking that the Louise O’Keeffe case be reconsidered to see whether the state is interpreting it correctly. In the submission to the Council ...

May 19, 2016 No Comments admin

Nearly all second Level ETB/VEC schools have Catholic religious instruction and worship

Nearly all second level Education and Training Board Schools and Colleges have Catholic Religious Instruction and worship. In an article in the Irish Times today about community and comprehensive secondary schools, the General Secretary of the Department of Education, Sean O'Foghlu, is quoted as stating that:- "Seán Ó Foghlú said the ...

May 7, 2016 No Comments admin

Catholic school management body undermines human rights of parents and children

The President of a Catholic school management association seems to believe that Catholic schools have a responsibility to disrespect atheist and secular parents’ convictions and undermine their human rights, and that children who are not educated to grow in faith are in danger of despair, nihilism and self-harm. In a recent speech, Father Paul Connell, ...

May 1, 2016 No Comments admin

The spiritual census!

Some people have suggested that those who ticked the ‘no religion’ box in the census may be spiritual, and therefore in some way more religious than atheist. There was no specific box in the recent census to tick if you see yourself as spiritual and also religious. You had the option of ...