by Michael Nugent on April 19, 2018
Atheist Ireland is delighted that Solidarity’s Objective Sex Education Bill has passed its first vote today in the Dail. It will now go on to be debated at Committee stage.
Along with our allies in other groups who support this Bill, we will now lobby members of the Oireachtas Education Committee to ensure that the Bill passes the further stages required to become law.
The Bill is supported by Atheist Ireland, the Rape Crisis Network, the National Women’s Council, the Irish Family Planning Association, LGBTQI+ advocacy group ShoutOut, and the Union of Students in Ireland.
Atheist Ireland raised this issue last year at the United Nations, who recommended that Ireland should introduce compulsory scientifically objective sex education into school curricula.
Atheist Ireland supports Solidarity’s repeated political initiatives to bring about an ethical secular state where everybody’s rights are equally respected.
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by Michael Nugent on April 9, 2018
by Michael Nugent on April 1, 2018
The Irish Catholic Bishops are planning to run a candidate for President of Ireland this year.
Leaked documents reveal that the Bishops are divided between proposing Catholic Primate Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, or independent Catholic Senator Ronan Mullen.
The Bishops have secured the required nominations from members of the Oireachtas. Catholic clerics have already served in the United States Congress, the Canadian House of Commons, and the French National Assembly.
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by Michael Nugent on March 27, 2018
This Friday, for the first time in nearly a century, Irish pubs will be allowed to open on Good Friday. If you are in Dublin, please join us for the first ever Good Friday Atheists in the Pub session, from 8pm in the Hairy Lemon on Lower Stephen Street. There is a Facebook event page here.
In 1924, Ireland had one pub for every 200 people, twice the ratio of England. The new Irish Free State parliament was debating keeping Good Friday and St Patrick’s Day dry, as well as closing pubs during “the hours of Divine Service” on Sunday mornings.
Were the new regulations aimed at keeping public order? No. Justice Minister Kevin O’Higgins made clear that: “They were not inserted from that angle at all, but rather as an attempt to interpret the collective mind or wish of the people concerning matters that are partly religious and partly sentimental.”
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