Catholic schools foster relations with God when teaching Relationships and Sexuality education
The Minister for Education, Norma Foley, still has no plans to amend the Education Act 1998 to guarantee that relationship and sexuality education will be delivered in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner and not through religious ethos of schools. Atheist Ireland has made submissions to the National Council for ...
Public Accounts Committee letter to Atheist Ireland November 2022
The Public Accounts Committee wrote this letter to Atheist Ireland on 22 November 2022. [pdf-embedder url="https://www.teachdontpreach.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/S1082-PAC33-Atheist-Ireland-mtg-27.10.2022.pdf" title="S1082 PAC33 Atheist Ireland mtg 27.10.2022"]
Religious school ethos should not influence social, personal, and health education
Atheist Ireland has made the following submission to the NCCA's consultation on the updated junior cycle SPHE curriculum. The aim of the updated short course is 'to nurture students' self-awareness and positive self-worth and to develop the knowledge, understanding, skills, dispositions and values that will help them to create and ...
The State, not school boards, should directly protect the rights of minorities in schools
The term ethos/characteristic spirit is not defined in the Education Act 1998. It can and does mean different things to different Patron bodies, schools and teachers. The term 'ethos' is connected with the choice of parents in relation to the education of their children. Because the majority of parents of ...
Loreto school in Balbriggan wants to control ‘NPRE’ parents and their children
In Loreto second level school in Balbriggan, students who exercise their Constitutional right to not attend religious instruction are referred to as 'NPRE students', and their parents are referred to as 'parents of NPRE students'. 'NPRE' stands for Non Participation in Religious Education. It could more accurately be described as ...
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 ...
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' ...
Minister for Education replies to Atheist Ireland about religion in schools and anti-abortion video
The Minister for Education Norma Foley has replied to a letter from Atheist Ireland about the right to not attend religious instruction in schools and a recent anti-abortion video shown in a school. Here is the Minister's reply and our reply to her. Letter from Minister for Education to Atheist ...
Atheist Ireland raises religious discrimination in Irish schools with UN and C&AG
Atheist Ireland has asked the United Nations to raise religious discrimination in Irish schools when it next questions Ireland on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. We have also made a complaint to the Irish Comptroller and Auditor General about the misuse of public funds regarding the teaching of religion in ...
NCCA must address impact of school ethos on teaching of sex education
Atheist Ireland has made the following submission to the NCCA about the redevelopment of Junior Cycle Social, Personal, and Health Education (SPHE). We are making this submission in the context of our submission from October 2019 on the Review of Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) which forms part of SPHE. ...