Schools ignore legal duty to publish arrangements for children who do not attend religious instruction
In the last few weeks parents of children who are starting school this September are attending meetings in schools where information about the school and the procedures is conveyed. Unfortunately no information is given on the right to not attend religious instruction at these meetings or in the Admission policies ...
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, ...
Catholic Bishops lobby for the right to discriminate against non-Catholic children
Catholic Bishops lobbied the Government last June to change the law, so they could once again be allowed to discriminate against non-Catholic children in access to publicly funded primary schools. RTE's Emma O'Kelly reported that the Bishops said their support for divesting a small number of publicly funded primary schools ...
Atheist Ireland letter to Public Accounts Committee June 2022
Atheist Ireland wrote this letter to the Public Accounts Committee on 11 June 2022. [pdf-embedder url="https://teachdontpreach.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/AI-PAC-June-22-.pdf" title="AI PAC June 22"]
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 ...