Atheist Ireland raises religious discrimination with the UN Human Rights Committee
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is questioning Ireland in July about our human rights record under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, or ICCPR. Atheist Ireland has made the following submission about Freedom of Conscience, Religion, and Belief. You can also read it here on the United Nations ...
The right to not attend religious instruction and the misuse of public funds in Irish schools
Since last year Atheist Ireland has been raising the issue of the misuse of public funds in Irish schools that do not respect the constitutional condition of state funding that children have a right to not attend religious instruction. Following the Minister for Education's recent misleading Dail reply about this, ...
Minister for Education gives misleading Dail answer about the right to not attend religious instruction
When protecting the right of children to not attend religious instruction in schools receiving public money, it is important to use the language in the Constitution. In particular, the right to “not attend” must not be conflated with “opting out” or “not participating”. These ambiguous phrases have no basis in ...
The constitutional rights of nonreligious parents in Irish schools
Atheist Ireland continues to campaign to protect the constitutional rights of all families in the education system. Parents have positive inalienable rights regarding the education of their children, and nonreligious parents have the same positive rights as religious parents. These rights come under: Article 41.1 and 42.1 “The State recognises ...
Atheist Ireland writes to Minister for Finance about misuse of public funds in Irish schools
Atheist Ireland has written the following letter to Paschal Donohoe TD, Minister for FInance, regarding the misuse of public funds in Irish schools. Dear Minister Donohoe, We wish to make a complaint about the misuse of public funds in relation to the criteria by which any class or classes of recognised ...
Schools must respect parents’ right to the ‘Religious and Moral Formation’ of their children
'Faith formation' in our schools is the basis for a lot of discussion by people and organisations on both sides of the debate. Some argue for ‘faith formation’ to stay in schools and others argue that 'faith formation' should be removed from the school day. The term ‘faith formation’ is ...
Stop saying ‘opt out’ of religious instruction – the right is to ‘not attend’
There is a right under Article 44.2.4 of the Irish Constitution for students to 'not attend' religious instruction in publicly funded schools if that is against the conscience of their parents. This is sometimes informally referred to as the right to 'opt out'. However, the explicit right to 'not attend' ...
Department of Education is undermining a foundational pillar of the Constitution
Syllabus Religious Education was introduced into second level schools in 2000. It is an exam subject at junior and Leaving Certificate level. The Department of Education, the NCCA, teachers and schools as well as the TUI all claim that syllabus Religious Education is suitable for all religions and those with ...
State ignores fundamental Constitutional conditions for funding schools
The vast majority of schools in Ireland are publicly funded Catholic schools. Under the Constitution the State can fund Catholic schools under certain conditions. The Constitutional conditions for this state funding are: That all publicly funded schools must respect the constitutional right of parents in relation to the religious and moral ...
New Draft Primary Curriculum must respect rights of atheists as decided by the courts
The NCCA is holding a Public Consultation on the new Draft Primary Curriculum Framework. Atheist Ireland has prepared the following Submission. Contents 1. Introduction 2. The Burke Case and the Campaign case at the Supreme Court 3. The right to respect for our philosophical convictions 4. The Draft Primary Framework ...