Submission to NCCA consultation on Junior Cycle Religious Education
This is a joint submission made to the NCCA consultation process on Junior Cycle Religious Education from: Michael Nugent and Jane Donnelly, Atheist Ireland Imam Ibrahim Noonan, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland Pastor Nick Park, Executive Director, Evangelical Alliance of Ireland The three groups are pictured above with Nils Muižnieks, ...
Crowdfunding appeal – help us to expose religious ethos in State Schools
Please donate now to the crowdfunding appeal at this link to help expose the extent of religious ethos in State Schools in Ireland. Atheist Ireland has recently exposed, using Freedom of Information law, that some State-run schools in Ireland have a Catholic ethos, and refuse to let children opt out from ...
Minister for Education’s Dail answer is misleading about religious ethos of Model Schools
Last week Minister for Education Richard Bruton answered a written Dail question from Ruth Coppinger TD about the status of religious instruction in schools in which he or a public body is the Patron. Minister Bruton’s answer began: “As Minister for Education and Skills, in accordance with the Education Act ...
Archbishop confirms that state-funded Irish schools are vital centres for Catholic evangelisation
In a speech last week to a conference on Catholic education, Archbishop Eamon Martin said that Catholic schools remain 'vital centres for evangelisation and catechesis'. Atheist Ireland has for years been pointing out this damning fact: that our publicly funded school system is part of the evangelising mission of the ...
Education Minister responds to Atheist Ireland FOI documents; promises new guidelines on opting out of religion
Atheist Ireland has written to the Minister for Education seeking an input into the new guidelines that he has committed to issuing for children opting out of religion classes in State-run ETB schools. The Minister was responding to questions by RTE's Emma O'Kelly about documents that Atheist Ireland obtained under ...
Tipperary ETB is evading its legal duty to decide on school ethos
The RTE News Education Correspondent, Emma O’Kelly, has described as “extraordinary” the statement by the CEO of Tipperary ETB that its secondary schools have a Catholic ethos. This was revealed in documents obtained by Atheist Ireland under the Freedom of Information Act, which we published here. Legal duty of the ...
NCCA relegates to a footnote “faith formation alongside teaching the State syllabus”
In a Background Paper and Brief for the Review of Junior Cycle Religious Education, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has relegated one of the main human rights issues with regard to the State Religious Education course to a footnote on page 9 of a 47-page document. In that ...
Freedom of Information Documents show State ETB schools have a specifically Catholic ethos
The Minister for Education and ETB Ireland are both presenting ETB schools as the State-run multi-denominational alternative for parents who do not want a Catholic education for their children. They are promoting ETB schools ahead of Educate Together schools. But Atheist Ireland has obtained documents under the Freedom of Information ...
Irish schools breach parents’ human right to keep their religious or nonreligious convictions private
Michael Moriarty, General Secretary of Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI), has said that Irish schools are bound by decades-old rules around the teaching of religion that no longer reflect the reality of a rapidly-changing society. But one of the most fundamental breaches of human rights in our schools is ...
New Report: Tipperary ETB/CTI is Failing in its Duty to Promote and Respect Human Rights
Atheist Ireland has prepared this comprehensive report on how Tipperary Education and Training Board (ETB), through its Central Technical Institute (CTI) in Clonmel, is failing in its statutory obligation to promote and protect the rights of minorities in their schools, based on the details of a recent case at the ...