Human Rights Standards Archives

July 11, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Please ask your TDs to ensure that all abuse victims in Louise O’Keeffe case get compensation

Please contact your local TDs and ask them to ensure that all the victims of abuse in Irish schools, similar to that in the Louise O'Keeffe case, get justice and compensation. The Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar has apologised to victims of abuse in day schools. But the State has for the ...

June 9, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

How the Irish education system indoctrinates atheists and religious minorities

The Irish Constitution obliges the State to respect the inalienable right of parents to ensure the education of their children is in conformity with their convictions. The European Court of Human Rights has defined indoctrination in the education system as not ‘respecting’ parents’ convictions. Despite this, Church and State in ...

June 7, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Teaching more than one religion can be indoctrination, and you have a right to not attend the NCCA religion class

The Minister for Education, Joe McHugh, and the Department of Education are now claiming that if a class is teaching one religion then it is religious instruction, and if it is teaching a number of religions then it is religious education. They go on to claim that, because of this, ...

April 12, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Cultural Catholics still give cover to the criminal church that runs our schools

We need to end the alliance of convenience between the Catholic Church and cultural Catholics that enables this criminal church to maintain control over most of our State-funded public schools. We need to move towards a secular State-funded education system that treats all children equally regardless of the beliefs of ...

March 9, 2019 1 Comment Teach Dont Preach

How State Schools Break The Rules – New Report from Atheist Ireland

Atheist Ireland has published a major new report titled How State Schools Break The Rules. It explains how the Department of Education, the ETBs, and the NCCA are breaching Constitutional and Human Rights and the IHREC Act in Religious Education in ETB schools. We will be using this report as the ...

March 3, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

The Constitutional right to opt out of the State religion course

ETB schools are wrongly telling students that they cannot opt out of the State religious education course at second level, and are wrongly trying to justify that by referring to a misleading clarification of a directive from the Department of Education. In February last year the Department told ETB schools ...

February 18, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

New Junior Cycle Religious Education course still breaches constitutional and human rights

The new specification for the Junior Cycle Religious Education curriculum, due to be introduced in schools in September 2019, disrespects the rights of parents who seek secular education for their children based on human rights. The new course reflects the disrespect that the State has for non-religious parents and their children. ...

January 3, 2019 1 Comment Teach Dont Preach

Community National Schools learning outcomes were changed from understanding religion to respecting it

The Catholic Bishops wrote to Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI) in February 2017 stating that the Goodness Me Goodness You course (GMGY) in Community National Schools did not constitute a viable programme for faith nurturing and sacramental education. This was after the Senior part of the GMGY course was ...

December 11, 2018 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

The web of Catholic codes of conduct in the National Maternity Hospital and Community National Schools

While protesters were on the streets last Saturday, campaigning against Catholic healthcare codes of conduct in our new National Maternity Hospital, the State is requiring children to respect those Catholic codes of conduct in our Community National Schools. Catholic Codes of Conduct in the National Maternity Hospital The campaign against ...

December 3, 2018 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Irish schools require children to respect Vatican codes of conduct that discriminate against gay people

The Irish Times reports that Pope Francis is concerned about what he describes as the “serious issue” of homosexuality and that being gay is a “fashion” to which the clergy is susceptible. He has said that “gay people should not be accepted into ministry”. It is nothing new that the Catholic ...