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Anthony McIntyre ☠ Courtrooms are not the type of places we head off to in search of some relaxation.


I have spent so much time in them that I began to think my name was either 'the accused' or 'the defendant.'. Impersonal, formal and rushed places, business moves at the frenzied pace of a New York moment.

It was a beautiful sunny day when I accompanied Drogheda Stands With Palestine activist Siobhan to Dundalk court. It was the second time in a matter of months that we had made the short train journey to the town. She had been summonsed because she had refused to pay her licence fee. For her it was a matter of conscientious objection towards paying anything to RTE whose coverage of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, she felt, fell far short of what a national television station should be serving to the society that finances it. Her view was simple: how can citizens be well-informed if RTE does not inform them?

The court building felt like a furnace on a sweltering hot Tuesday morning. Not enough seats for the people gathered we stood in the hallway awaiting the court to start while people fanned themselves down with legal papers and summonses, as legal eagles crisscrossed the building seeking out their clients and talking with their opposite numbers. At times a prisoner handcuffed to a guard would walk across the room, the cuffs guaranteeing him attention whether he wanted it or not. I made a point of following the eyes as they followed him. Having been in handcuffs hundreds of times, most of them for court appearances, it felt better to be brought to court by Siobhan who didn't need cuffs to get me there.

Last time up the case was adjourned. The An Post official we met in one of the court building's consultation rooms said at the time he would like to give her more time to pay the licence. Something she had not requested. On this occasion when we entered the room he fully expected Siobhan to have paid, leading to him being able to withdraw the case. She explained she hadn't paid and would not be paying due to the coverage of the Israeli genocide. He informed her that the case would have to proceed and that he could not enter into further conversation with her as it could be prejudicial to the outcome. He was formal but courteous.

I asked Siobhan if she was concerned about getting a record if convicted. No was her brief reply. She was good to go. We bantered about here going to jail as the Termonabbey One. Not that we had any concerns about that. The judge would have to fine her first and when she refused to pay that then the possibility of jail might loom down the line.

Inside the courtroom the judge was moving through cases at lightening speed and giving short shift to those who were not moving as quickly as she felt the imperatives of a busy court schedule required. As we awaited our turn, we watched other cases. In one, a black Garda was giving evidence. I didn't envy him, thinking he must get more abuse than most gardai given the racism that on some occasions has taken to the streets of Dundalk. It brought to mind an incident from Drogheda where a young ban garda of a colour other than white left the force after being threatened and abused by a drunken racist thug. A single black Garda contributes more to the society we live in than a regiment of racist hate vendors.

When Siobhan was called I walked up to stand behind her as she made her case, honoured to be with her as a colleague from Drogheda Stands With Palestine. We had stood together in West Street weekly vigil for almost three years and our court outing was hardly breaking our stride. It was the same journey, standing for the same thing. Most important of all, Siobhan could have restricted her evidence to simply stating that she did not have a TV, and was not in possession of one at the time of the TV licence inspector's visit. That was enough to win her an acquittal. She didn't take the easy way out, but instead made what for her was the foremost point, that she would not be paying RTE anything because of her conscientious objection to its coverage of Gaza. The judge noted it and then moved to strike out the case.

We emerged from the courtroom to a North Louth sun to make our way back on the only good thing ever to come out of Dundalk - the train to Drogheda!!

Siobhan's act of civil disobedience could have cost her. But consequences did not dissuade her from pursuing what she believed to be the proper course of action. Contrast her stand with that of the FAI or the Dublin government and their role in legitimising the rogue state of Israel. Wolfe Tone's people of no property or no power are willing to do the right thing when those who have both property and power use every evasive tactic in the book to dilute, defer, derail doing the right thing, and then deny having done anything wrong.

In the overall scheme of things actions like Siobhan's can appear small particularly when considered against soccer internationals or the Occupied Territories Bill. Yet their significance lies in the message they transmit: that individuals prepared to be disobedient, in a way that their governments and sporting authorities are not, is the grit that sticks in the wheels of the genocidal juggernaut. Siobhan's action was much more than a refusal to pay a TV licence. It was a statement that Irish society should not be complicit at any level in giving Israel a licence to kill. No matter how small it might seem or as torturously slow as progress appears, it is actions such as this which help build the momentum towards a situation once summed up by VI Lenin: There Are Decades Where Nothing Happens and Weeks Where Decades Happen.

Nothing will happen if citizens like ourselves, through actions, big and small, don't make them happen.

⏩Follow on Bluesky.

The Courtroom

Ukraine Solidarity Group ✊ A Digest of News from Ukrainian Sources ⚔ 13-July-2026.

In this week’s bulletin

⬤ 100,000+ Russian war crimes.
⬤ Russian indoctrination of children.
⬤ Torture of Ukrainian journalists.
⬤ Putin’s ties to Israel.
⬤ Elite Ukrainian regiment torture allegations. 
⬤ Ukraine Recovery Conference.
⬤ Russia fuel crisis/

News from the territories occupied by Russia

Russia passes revenge life sentences against a Hero of Ukraine and three other marine commanders for defending Mariupol (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 10th)

Russians sentence terrorized 20-year-old Mariupol woman to 13 years on ‘treason’ charges (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 10th)

Civilians Trapped in Occupied Khersonska Region (Human Rights Watch, July 9th)

52-year-old Ukrainian political prisoner Ibragim Kudzhanov dies in Russian captivity (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 9th)

Weekly update on the situation in occupied Crimea (Crimea Platform, July 8th)

Crimeans given long sentences for ‘calls to terrorism’ – comments on social media in support of Ukraine against Russian aggressor (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 8th)

Russia ignores urgent medical condition and increases monstrous sentence against 68-year-old Halyna Bekhter for supporting Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 7th)

Ukrainian journalists unlawfully imprisoned by Russia (Zmina, July 6th)

‘I will never betray my faith’: Artem Gerasimov, a political prisoner from Crimea, has served his sentence and been released (Crimea Platform, July 6th)

Russia to indoctrinate children in occupied Ukraine with invented ‘history of Donbas & Novorossiya textbook' (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 6th)

Ukrainian Jehovah’s Witness faces 6-year sentence on charge of ‘financing extremist activities’ for shared worship (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 6th)

Report: Life Under Occupation (Alternative Human Rights Centre, June 2026)

News from Ukraine

Commander of scandal hit Ukraine brigade wanted for murder (Kyiv Independent, July 12th)

‘Educational conversations’: rioters and recruiters in Lviv (Meduza, 10 July)

For second time in 4 days, Russia targets Kyiv with mass missile attack, killing at least 26 (Kyiv Independent, July 6th)

Russian missile hits residential building in Kyiv: 9 killed, 46 injured (Ukrainska Pravda, July 6th)

The “Skelya” assault regiment has combat merits. And, according to eyewitnesses, they torture and beat people to death there (Babel, June 23rd)

A soldiers’ union is formed in Ukraine (International Viewpoint, June 14th)

War-related news from Russia

More than 230,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine (Kyiv Independent July 12th)

Russia restricts foreign SIM cards, blocking censorship circumvention (Ukrainska Pravda, July 12)

Investigation: how severe is Russia’s gasoline crisis? (Meduza, 10 July)

Russian anti-war activist deported from Turkey and detained (Meduza, 10 July)

Crimean artist and political prisoner Bohdan Ziza transferred to a penal colony in Ulan-Ude (Crimea Platform, July 9th)

Drone deference: firms fined for failing to protect employees from attack (Mediazona, 9 July)

Pump fiction: queues and empty tanks in Russian petrol stations (Mediazona, 8 July)

“Russian Houses”: Russia’s Instruments of Influence on Youth Abroad (Crimea Platform, July 8th)

Urban scholars write: Participatory governance, à la Russe (Posle.Media, 8 July)

Putin’s ties to Israel: Best Frenemies Ever (Radical Dumpling, July 8th)

Comment and analysis

Who Is Ukraine’s Recovery Really For? (Jacobin, July 11th)

Podcast: the Russia-Ukraine war and the Left (Victor’s Children / Soundcloud, July 8th)

Who Pays for Ukraine? Debt, Conditionality, and the Limits of European Solidarity (Europe Solidaire Sans Frontieres, July 8th)

Soviet Romanticism (161 Crew, January 19th)

Research of human rights abuses

More than 100,000 documented incidents of international crimes: how civil society organisations are bringing justice closer (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 7th)

Ukrainian journalists unlawfully imprisoned by Russia (Zmina, July 6th)

Torture, isolation and fabricated cases: Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry urged the release of Ukrainian journalists unlawfully imprisoned by Russia (Zmina, July 3rd)

Calling Russians to account, caring for victims, establishing truth, and providing guarantees: four pillars of transitional justice. Interview with Maksym Yeligulashvili (Babel, June 24th)

Also not to be missed

64-page zine about cultures of remembrance (Solidarity Collectives, 10 July)

France denies asylum to journalist who exposed Russian operations in Africa (iStories, 9 July)

The communist menace (The Russian Reader, 6 July) 


🔴This bulletin is put together by labour movement activists in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance. More information at Ukraine Information Group.

We are also on twitter. Our aim is to circulate information in English that to the best of our knowledge is reliable. If you have something you think we should include, please send it to 2U022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.


We are now on Facebook and Substack! Please subscribe and tell friends. Better still, people can email us at 2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com, and we’ll send them the bulletin direct every Monday. The full-scale Russian assault on Ukraine is going into its third year: we’ll keep information and analysis coming, for as long as it takes.

The bulletin is also stored on line here.

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News From Ukraine 💣 Bulletin 203

Atheist Ireland ★ has made the following submission to the Department of Education and Youth Consultation on Wellbeing in Education.


Content

1. Introduction
2. Recommendations

2.1. Issue statutory guidelines on respect for all beliefs
2.2. Ensure that school ethos cannot override children’s rights
2.3. Practical arrangements for children who do not attend religious instruction
2.4. Remove admissions discrimination on religious or ethos grounds
2.5. Provide non-denominational schools
2.6. Audit the wellbeing impact of school ethos
2.7. Include nonreligious families in consultation and monitoring
2.8. Inspect equality of belonging

3. Wellbeing requires real belonging, not merely welcoming language
4. The legal contradiction at the centre of school wellbeing
5. Admissions discrimination undermines belonging
6. The right to not attend religious instruction must be practical and stigma-free
7. The ethos of schools can shape the wellbeing curriculum itself
8. UN and Council of Europe recommendations
9. Conclusion

1. Introduction

Atheist Ireland welcomes the opportunity to make this submission to the Department of Education and Youth’s consultation on wellbeing in education.

The Department has stated that children and young people learn more effectively when they experience a sense of belonging in school, have confidence in themselves, and feel supported in their school communities. The Department’s review will inform the next Wellbeing in Education policy and implementation plan up to 2030 and beyond.

Atheist Ireland promotes an ethical, secular State that respects equally the human rights of atheists and secularists as well as those with religious beliefs. We work with religious minority groups, including Evangelical Christians and Ahmadi Muslims, on issues where the State privileges larger religions over smaller religions and non-religious philosophical beliefs.

This submission focuses on a structural problem that directly affects children’s wellbeing: many children are required, in practice, to attend publicly funded schools whose ethos (Characteristic Spirit – S.15.2 (b) Education Act 1998) does not reflect the beliefs of their families. Ireland has denominational, interdenominational, and multi-denominational schools, but no publicly funded non-denominational school sector.

All schools are registered with the Department as either denominational, multi-denominational, or inter-denominational. There is no access to an objective, critical and pluralistic education in any of these schools as per Article 2 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention or Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights.

This means that many atheist, secular, minority faith, and mixed-belief families have no realistic local alternative to a publicly funded school whose ethos reflects their family beliefs. That affects children’s sense of belonging, equality, identity, and emotional safety.

2. Recommendations

Atheist Ireland recommends that the Department of Education and Youth include the following commitments in the next Wellbeing in Education policy and implementation plan.

2.1. Issue statutory guidelines on respect for all beliefs

The Department should issue statutory guidelines giving practical effect to Section 15.2(e) of the Education Act 1998. These should explain how Boards of Management must respect and promote respect for the diversity of values, beliefs, traditions, languages and ways of life in society, including atheist, secular, minority religious, and mixed-belief families.

2.2. Ensure that school ethos cannot override children’s rights

The Department should make clear that no patron ethos may be interpreted or applied in a way that undermines a child’s rights to equality, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion or belief, privacy, dignity, and wellbeing.

2.3. Practical arrangements for children who do not attend religious instruction

The Department should introduce statutory guidelines that require all schools to provide meaningful, supervised, educational alternatives for children who do not attend religious instruction, education, worship, faith formation, sacramental preparation, or other ethos-specific activities that are against the conscience of children and their parents. These arrangements should be practical, resourced, stigma-free, and communicated clearly to parents. Section 62-7(n) of the Education Admissions to Schools Act 2018 has failed in its purpose to require schools to put the arrangements for not attending religious instruction in their Admission Policies.

2.4. Remove admissions discrimination on religious or ethos grounds

The Department should support legislative reform to remove religious and ethos-based discrimination in school admissions, as recommended by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

2.5. Provide non-denominational schools

The Department should develop a time-bound strategy, with adequate resources, to provide non-denominational schools. Multi-denominational schools are not the same as non-denominational schools. Multi-denominational means just that, multi-religious. Atheism and secularism are not denominations. Families should have access to schools where the State is neutral between religion and philosophical beliefs and where children have access to an objective, critical and pluralistic education.

2.6. Audit the wellbeing impact of school ethos

The Department should examine how a patron’s ethos affects the delivery of the Wellbeing curriculum, including SPHE, relationships and sexuality education, ethical understanding, identity, family, belonging, and citizenship.

2.7. Include nonreligious families in consultation and monitoring

The Department should explicitly include atheist, secular, minority faith, and mixed-belief families in consultation, focus groups, surveys, and monitoring of wellbeing policy.

2.8. Inspect equality of belonging

The Inspectorate should assess whether children from minority belief backgrounds experience equal belonging in school, including whether they are positively represented, whether their parents’ convictions are respected, and whether they suffer stigma and discrimination during religious instruction or ethos-based activities.

3. Wellbeing requires real belonging, not merely welcoming language

The primary Wellbeing Specification states that wellbeing is connected to children’s physical, social, relational, emotional and spiritual development, and that wellbeing includes a sense of purpose, connection, and belonging to a wider community. It also states that the specification promotes inclusive learning environments based on human rights and equality, recognises the diversity of cultures, identities, backgrounds and families in Irish classrooms, and says children should not be discriminated against on grounds including religion.

These are positive aims. However, they cannot be fully realised while the legal and policy framework of the Irish education system continues to allow publicly funded schools to integrate a patron’s ethos into the school environment and the state curriculum, while providing no effective Departmental guidance on how schools must respect the beliefs of children and parents who do not share that ethos.

Schools are not legally obliged to ensure access to children of an objective, critical and pluralistic education which is a General Principle of Article 2 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention and Article 18 of the ICCPR. A look at the Concluding Observations of the UN and Council of European over the years in relation to the Irish education system tells us how the system is failing to protect the human rights of all children.

A child does not feel fully included merely because a school says that everyone is welcome. A child feels included when the school’s practices, curriculum, ceremonies, relationships, policies, and daily language show that the child’s family beliefs are treated with equal respect.

For atheist and secular children, and for many minority religious children, the repeated message is often different. They may be told that they are welcome, but the school Admission policy, RSE Policy, ethos, prayers, religious instruction, religious symbols, sacramental preparation, patron programmes, and school ceremonies may all communicate that the school community has a “normal” belief identity from which they differ.

4. The legal contradiction at the centre of school wellbeing

Section 15 of the Education Act 1998 creates a tension that the Department has never properly resolved. On the one hand, a Board of Management must uphold, and is accountable to the patron for upholding, the characteristic spirit of the school as determined by the cultural, educational, moral, religious, social, linguistic, and spiritual values and traditions of that school. On the other hand, Section 15.2(e) requires Boards to have regard to the principles and requirements of a democratic society and to respect and promote respect for the diversity of values, beliefs, traditions, languages and ways of life in society.

In practice, the Department has issued no statutory guidelines explaining how Boards of Management should reconcile these duties where a child’s family beliefs conflict with the patron’s ethos.

This absence of guidance leaves schools, teachers, parents, and children in an unfair position. Boards of Management are required legally under Section 15-2(b) of the Education Act 1998 to uphold the ethos of the patron and to respect all beliefs (S.15-2(e)). But they are not told what that respect requires in daily school life. The European Court has defined ‘respect’ in its case law. It says that “respect means more than acknowledge or take into account.

The European court held as a General Principle that:

(c) Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 does not permit a distinction to be drawn between religious instruction and other subjects. It enjoins the State to respect parents’ convictions, be they religious or philosophical, throughout the entire State education programme (see Kjeldsen, Busk Madsen and Pedersen, cited above, p. 25, §51). That duty is broad in its extent as it applies not only to the content of education and the manner of its provision but also to the performance of all the “functions” assumed by the State.
The verb “respect” means more than “acknowledge” or “take into account”. In addition to a primarily negative undertaking, it implies some positive obligation on the part of the State. The term “conviction”, taken on its own, is not synonymous with the words “opinions” and “ideas”. It denotes views that attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance (see Valsamis, cited above, pp. 2323-24, §§ 25 and 27, and Campbell and Cosans, cited above, pp. 16-17, §§ 36-37).


The word ‘respect’ is a verb and involves all the functions assumed by the State. There is a positive obligation on behalf of the state to ‘respect’ parents’ convictions.

The General Comment of the United Nations on Article 18 Freedom of religion and belief of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights states that:

(2) Article 18 protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief. The terms “belief” and “religion” are to be broadly construed. Article 18 is not limited in its application to traditional religions or to religions and beliefs with institutional characteristics or practices analogous to those of traditional religions. The Committee therefore views with concern any tendency to discriminate against any religion or belief for any reason, including the fact that they are newly established, or represent religious minorities that may be the subject of hostility on the part of a predominant religious community.

The only Guidelines for schools on these issues are from the Catholic Church. Successive Ministers have promoted these Catholic Guidelines as a basis for inclusion. However, these Guidelines state that atheism and humanism are not beliefs. This is contrary to human rights law and a reflection of what is wrong with the structural application of wellbeing.

The Patron’s programme for the Community National schools under the ‘Beliefs, Religions and GMGY Support Materials’ document says ‘Children learn about religion and beliefs’ and ‘this increases a child’s religious literacy’. It does not say ‘this increases a child’s literacy about religions and beliefs’.

It says ‘Children also learn from religion’ but it does not say they ‘learn from atheism’ or ‘learn from nonreligious beliefs’. We don’t believe they should learn ‘from’ any religion or belief, as that is not objective, critical and pluralistic, and the imbalance adds to the problem.

Various ETB school websites refer to ‘the five major world religions’ but not to any major
nonreligious beliefs. Typical wording is ‘Strive to be equitable in teaching about the five major world religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism) and also be equally respectful of all other belief systems.’

The ‘Non-religious Philosophies of Life Support Materials’ document cites Peter Boghossian as saying the term ‘atheism’ is contentious. It then says ‘Atheism is not an affirmative belief that there is no god nor does it answer any other question about what a person believes. It is simply a rejection of the assertion that there are gods. Atheism is too often defined incorrectly as a belief system.’

This itself is a contentious description of atheism, not shared by Atheist Ireland or by all atheists. We believe atheism is a positive affirmative belief about the nature of reality and morality, and that it does answer some other important questions about what a person believes.

Our position is consistent with international human rights law, and with the European Court of Human Rights recognising atheism as a belief in the context of being a coherent worldview that is cogent, serious, important, and worthy of respect in a democratic society. This is much more than ‘simply a rejection of the assertion that there are gods.’

A wellbeing policy must address this structural gap. Otherwise, “respect” remains an aspiration, while “ethos” remains an enforceable legal duty.

5. Admissions discrimination undermines belonging

The Equal Status Act 2000 also undermines the Department’s stated aim of inclusive and welcoming schools.

Section 7 of the Equal Status Act prohibits discrimination by educational establishments in relation to admissions, access to courses or facilities, participation, expulsion, or sanctions. However, the same section permits exceptions for schools with religious values.

At primary level it also allows a school that promotes certain religious values to refuse admission to a student who is not of a particular religious denomination where it is proved that refusal is essential to maintain the ethos of the school. At second level schools can give preference to co-religionists and refuse access if they can prove a child will undermine their ethos.

At primary level, the Equal Status Act allows recognised minority faith schools to give priority to children of that minority religion where the school provides religious instruction or religious education of the same or similar ethos.

The wellbeing implications are obvious. A child who knows that their family’s beliefs could legally be treated as a reason to prefer another child, or even to exclude them in order to protect a school ethos, cannot reasonably be expected to experience that school system as equally welcoming.

Even where these provisions are rarely used in practice, their existence sends a powerful social signal. It says that some children belong naturally within the school ethos, while others are accommodated only conditionally.

That is inconsistent with a wellbeing framework based on belonging, equality, and respect for diversity and indeed pluralism.

6. The right to not attend religious instruction must be practical and stigma-free

The Education Act and the Intermediate Education (Ireland) Act 1878 provides that the Minister shall not require any student to attend instruction in any subject that is contrary to the conscience of the parent, or remain in attendance at religious instruction, (Section 30-2(e) Education Act 1998, Section 7 Intermediate Education (Ireland) Act 1878).

Atheist Ireland deliberately uses the phrase “not attend” rather than “opt out” because this is reflected in Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution. The constitutional and statutory right is not a right to sit silently at the back of the same class while religious instruction continues. It is a right to not attend religious instruction or indeed any religious teaching (Teagasc Creidimh). This is an issue when wellbeing is informed by the ethos of the Patron.

In practice, however, children from atheist, secular, minority faith, and mixed-belief families are often not offered another subject or meaningful alternative activity. They may be left sitting in the religion class, physically present while being supposedly exempt. This happens at both primary and second level.

That arrangement is harmful to wellbeing in several ways.

First, it marks the child as different. Secondly, it fails to vindicate the child’s and parents’ rights. Thirdly, it gives the child no equal educational alternative. Fourthly, it can make parents reluctant to exercise their rights because they do not want their child isolated, embarrassed, or supervised as an administrative problem instead of a constitutional right.

A wellbeing policy that values belonging must require schools to provide practical, non-discriminatory, and stigma-free arrangements for children who do not attend religious instruction, worship, faith formation, sacramental preparation, or indeed any curriculum subject that is not objective, critical and pluralistic.

This should not be left to ad hoc local negotiation. The Department should issue clear, binding statutory guidelines as under Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution this responsibility is the duty of the Oireachtas and a condition of the aid to the school.

7. The ethos of schools can shape the wellbeing curriculum itself

The Education Act 1998 recognises that every school has a patron, that patron determines the ethos of the school, and that any religious education/instruction/Patron’s programme may be provided in line with that ethos (Section 30.2(d)). The ethos of schools influences the morals, values, and beliefs of the school.

This matters because wellbeing is not a neutral bolt-on. The Wellbeing Specification includes areas such as identity, belonging, relationships, ethical understanding, family, values, emotional development, sexuality, and community. These are precisely the areas most likely to be influenced by a school’s ethos.

If the Department allows each patron’s ethos to shape the delivery of wellbeing without clear human-rights safeguards, the wellbeing curriculum may reproduce the very exclusion that it is supposed to address.

For example, a child from an atheist family may be taught about belonging within a school community whose symbols, ceremonies, and language assume religious belief. A child from a minority religion may be taught about respect for diversity while their own tradition is treated as peripheral. A child from a secular family may be taught about values in a setting that implies values are ultimately grounded in religion.

This is not just about the ethos of schools or the Patron’s programmes. The main aim of the state curriculum at second level is to develop values to enable students to come to an understanding of religion and its relevance to life, relationships, society and the wider world. This aim disrespects our philosophical beliefs because it is not objective, critical and pluralistic.

The Report from the Oireachtas Education Committee in 2019 recommended that:

14.The Committee recommends that the Education Act 1998 be amended or at least reviewed, so that ethos can no longer be used as a barrier to the effective, objective and factual teaching of the RSE and SPHE curriculum to which every student is entitled.
15.The Committee recommends that the necessary legislative amendments required to remove the role of ethos as a barrier to the objective and factual delivery of the RSE and SPHE curriculums be made as soon as possible and at the latest by the end of 2019.
17.The Committee recommends that the specific policy issues raised in the report should be integrated to all curriculums where appropriate and form part of a whole school approach.

The Minister Hildegarde Naughton was a member of this Oireachtas Committee at the time so she is aware of all the Recommendations in this Report and the need for structural change.

The issue is not whether religious schools may have their own ethos. The issue is whether the State may fund and require attendance at schools without ensuring that the rights and wellbeing of all children are protected equally within them.

8. UN and Council of Europe recommendations

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has directly addressed these issues. In its 2023 Concluding Observations on Ireland, the Committee urged the State to guarantee the right of all children to practise freely their religion or belief.

It recommended amending the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 and the Equal Status Acts to remove exceptions based on religious or ethos grounds, establishing statutory guidelines to ensure children’s right not to attend religious classes, and developing a time-bound strategy with adequate resources for increasing the availability of both multi-denominational and non-denominational schools.

These recommendations are directly relevant to wellbeing. They concern not only legal equality but also the lived experience of children in schools. A child’s wellbeing is affected when the State fails to ensure equal access, fails to provide practical alternatives to religious instruction, and fails to provide schools whose ethos is neutral between religious and nonreligious beliefs.

The Council of Europe’s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance has also raised concerns. Its sixth report on Ireland was adopted on 1 July 2025 and published on 28 October 2025. ECRI noted that religious discrimination in school admissions might still be happening in practice, that publicly funded schools promoting religious values can refuse to admit pupils where this is considered essential to maintain ethos, and that school ethos can affect the delivery of relationships and sexuality education.

It recommended reviewing the legislation to ensure that the exemption for refusal of admission based on religion does not adversely affect access to education, including reviewing the definition of ethos and what is required to prove that refusal is essential to maintain ethos.

These international recommendations reinforce the need for the Department’s wellbeing policy to address religion and belief based discrimination explicitly.

9. Conclusion

Wellbeing in education cannot be separated from equality, conscience, and belonging.
Ireland’s education system asks many children to attend schools whose ethos does not reflect their family beliefs. It then tells those children that they are included, while failing to provide the legal and practical safeguards that would make inclusion real.

The Department’s next wellbeing policy should not treat this as a peripheral issue. For atheist, secular, minority faith, and mixed-belief families, it is central to whether children feel respected, safe, and equal in school.

A school is not inclusive merely because it welcomes children into a pre-existing ethos. It is inclusive when every child can belong without having to absorb, avoid, or quietly endure beliefs that their family does not share. Inclusion for schools means inclusion in their ethos. We do not want our children to be included in a particular ideological view of the world that rejects their family values.

Atheist Ireland urges the Department to use this wellbeing review to move from aspirational inclusion to enforceable equality.

⏩ Follow Atheist Ireland on Twitter @atheistie

Wellbeing In Schools Review Must Respect All Beliefs Equally

Friendly Atheist ★ The Ark Encounter founder says journalists are biased when they accurately describe Young Earth Creationism as a fringe belief

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about how the Creationists at Ark Encounter are still desperately trying to convince people they do real “science.” (Usually, the conversations revolve around their low attendance.) 

But Ken Ham still hasn’t changed his rhetoric; he’s still mad that reality contradicts his mythology. That’s why he’s now lashing out at local newspapers for saying as much.

To make sense of it, we can just look to his latest video, where he makes a series of mistakes, purposely or not, to convince his gullible followers that the mainstream media is against them.

He wants to argue that good journalists should be objective, which, in his view, means not taking a position on what counts as science. So he brings up an example of a newspaper that got it right and one that got it wrong.

The one that did it right? The Northern Kentucky Tribune, which posted a brief article about how Ark Encounter was “celebrating its 10th anniversary.” Except it’s not an article at all. 

Ken Ham Is Furious That A Reporter Didn't Pretend Creationism Is Science

Right Wing Watch 👀 Written by Kyle Mantyla.


When Christian nationalists gathered in Utah last month at "War For Normal" hosted by New Christendom Press, in addition to having access to a vendor selling Nazi and "pro-white" books, they also heard from a variety of far-right speakers. 

Among them was Stephen Wolfe, author of the book "The Case for Christian Nationalism," who wants to see an "acknowledgement of the lordship of Christ" incorporated into the Constitution while imposing Christian nationalism on the nation.

During a panel discussion at the conference, Wolfe declared that attendees can wield "real power at the local level" by getting involved in their local Republican Party and taking it over, which is something that far-right Christian nationalist activists have been openly advocating for a while.

Wolfe said that the first step is for Christian nationalists to begin to identify one another and gather in small groups to create a "network that would allow people to be politically active."

"I was able to meet at a cigar bar with a friend of mine, and eventually we had 40 guys show up to that," Wolfe said. "We've gone from isolation to now people are meeting in groups . . . 

Continue @ RWW.

Real Power At The Local Level 🪶The Christian Nationalist Plan To Take Over The GOP

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand And Thirty Seven

 


Pastords @ 53

 

A Morning Thought @ 3210

Gary Donnelly  ★ Last night's violence that broke out surrounding the Derry City fixture came as no surprise to many and has, unfortunately, been a recurring feature in the past few years. 


It is becoming a problem which cannot be ignored any longer and serious questions has to be raised about the circumstances around this issue and those which contribute to this increasingly dangerous situation. 

Firstly, and perhaps most glaringly, is the policing operation which was put into action preceding the kick off time. In the city, yesterday, it was widely predicted that there would be trouble. CSKA Sofia supporters in previous days had identified on social media a bar on Bishop Street as a potential target where Derry supporters would gather. Their fans were aggressively roaming the city centre in broad daylight giving Nazi salutes with T-shirts that declared their wish for violence. In light of this, it has to be established who was responsible for marching these people down Bishop Street past the aforementioned bar that was identified by these people as a target. Knowing that doing so violence would be inevitable and tensions would be heightened.

Having talked to some residents in the Bishop Street and Brandywell area it is clear that there was no consultation with residents or anyone who would be obviously affected. The feeling amongst many people in the area is that for the past few years there has been no willingness to deal with these issues by those who hold responsibility for such occasions.
 
When leaving the Ryan McBride Brandywell stadium last night the opposing fans were taken safely through what is known locally “as the line”, The question has to be asked, given the open far right connections to may of these supporters and brewing tensions, why was this route not used to escort these fans to the match?


Going to a Derry match was once a family event that had a special atmosphere. It is rapidly becoming something which is associated with thuggery and violence reminiscent of the vileness of English football hooliganism. Brian Clough once commented during a Forest visit to the Brandywell on the great atmosphere and noted that there was 'not a bobby (police officer) in sight'. A man well travelled to football grounds across Europe. 

In my opinion, Derry City, should be working to return to these days, welcoming family days out instead of the fear, violence and sickening scenes that have happened recently. The recent example of Institute's use of the Ryan McBride Brandywell stadium is a positive model of community engagement and maybe an example which Derry City should examine. 

Having the PSNI in the Brandywell is not the answer to these problems. Furthermore, there is a suspicion amongst people in Derry that such issues are being exploited by those who have a political agenda which results in an open PSNI presence inside the Ryan McBride Brandywell stadium during matches.

⏩Gary Donnelly is an Independent Republican Councillor on Derry & Strabane Council.

Not Well At Brandywell

Geordie Morrow 🖌 with a painting from his collection of art work. 


⏩Geordie Morrow is a Belfast artist.

The Park

Dixie Elliot ✊I am seeing the claim that support for the Argentinian football team is support for Zionism being used a lot in the last week or so.



This is nonsense based on ignorance as a quick Google will tell you otherwise.
 
While the Argentinian president is a pro-Israel piece of shit, the people of Argentina have demonstrated their support for Palestine by holding mass rallies across the country in recent times.
 
As for Messi himself, it is hard to say where he stands and it has been pointed out that he visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem back in 2013. But the fact is that he went as part of the entire Barcelona team, on what was a 'peace tour'.
 
So if he was supporting the Zionists then so was the entire team.
 
Don't forget that the Western Wall is Judaism's holiest site and there are a minority of Jews living in Jerusalem itself who hate the Zionist state called Neturei Karta. They believe Jews are religiously forbidden to establish a sovereign state before the coming of the Messiah.

Messi is Catholic. He marks his goals by looking skyward in tribute to his grandmother, Celia, who accompanied him to training and matches when he was a boy and passed away when he was 11.

He often cites José Pékerman, the Jewish-Argentine coach who gave him his debut on the world stage, as the reason for his respect towards the Jewish people. 

Pékerman managed the Argentina U-20 side and launched Messi's senior international career, calling him up for his first World Cup in 2006.

Regardless, the Argentinian people cannot be accused of being pro-Zionist even if their president is.

Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman.
Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie

Argentines Against Colonial Zionism

Aaron Edwards ★ Writing in Aide Memoire.

There have been conflicting reports about the involvement of loyalist paramilitaries in the recent riots in Northern Ireland - but what is the truth of the matter?

Following a knife attack on a man in the Kinnaird Avenue area of north Belfast on 8th June, in which the PSNI charged another man with attempted murder, serious rioting broke out across Northern Ireland.

The Irish News initially reported on Wednesday 10th June that loyalists were involved in the trouble.

A day later the Belfast Telegraph carried a front page headline indicating loyalist paramilitaries denied orchestrating riots but would not help stop the violence.

On 12th June The Guardian suggested loyalists were likely sitting on the fence about the unfolding mayhem and had ostensibly adopted a ‘neutral’ stance.

By the end of the week, on 14th June, the Belfast Telegraph’s Northern Ireland Editor Sam McBride was writing about his first-hand encounter with loyalist paramilitaries while covering the riots.
A few days later on 18th June the Irish News featured an interview with the Commissioner for Children and Young people, Chris Quinn, who said he was aware of young people being bussed in to trouble spots to clear drug debts.

The next day the Irish News editorial went a step further and laid the blame for the riots squarely at the door of loyalists, stating ‘no serious observer could ever in doubt that the recent racist rioting was organised by loyalist paramilitary figures’.

The Writing is on the Wall

With conflicting reports on the involvement of paramilitary groups, where does the truth actually lie?

It is important to be honest at the outset: Loyalist paramilitaries have been deeply involved in rioting and race hate incidents in the past. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume, as the old saying goes, there really is “no smoke without fire”.

In fact as recently as the week before this gruesome knife attack, the Sunday World newspaper carried my comments on racist graffiti that had appeared in and around the Rathcoole estate. It had been reported that local paramilitaries had forced children to spray the writing on the walls.

The graffiti did not appear out of nowhere.

It followed off the back of non-violent protests staged by concerned local residents regarding an incident involving a group of Yemeni migrants dancing on ceremonial daggers in Hazelbank Park, a short distance from the estate.

Hazelbank has become something of a flashpoint in recent years, particularly as new immigrant communities take advantage of the outdoor amenities.

Inevitably these protests have drawn the attention of some paramilitaries, with one tabloid newspaper suggesting the South East Antrim UDA had been involved in an arson attack on a vehicle belonging to a Nigerian man in Rathcoole.

I have since learned that a local UVF figure is suspected of being behind the spray can graffiti and, potentially, in actively sending young people onto the streets.

Not much happens in the working class estates of Newtownabbey without paramilitaries being
aware of the situation. The question is are they directly involved in the violence we saw in early June?

Most readers would probably ask at this point - why does it matter which organisation is involved? Surely the key point is they are involved.

My answer would be that it matters because knowing what kind of malign influence animates such acts, even at a localised level, can aid in preventing or pre-empting them in future.

Influence vs Involvement

How then can we understand the role of paramilitaries in race hate incidents?

I think the first point to make is that we can assume some degree of loyalist paramilitary influence, if not involvement, in the recent riots.

This may seem to fly in the face of the PSNI’s briefing on 11th June that there was ‘no evidence’ of ‘paramilitary coordination’ in the violence.

Whether individual paramilitaries were physically present on the ground directing trouble or simply ‘monitoring’ the situation from a step removed is a moot point, for they are part of the fabric of marginalised and deprived communities.

They know everything that goes on and they have real influence in deciding the direction of travel when feet are on the street in large numbers.

At this point it is important to step back for a moment and look at the wider dynamic at play within paramilitary groups.

Both the UVF and UDA leadership structures have become ossified in recent years as they have made moves to leave the stage.

In practice, what that means in places like Rathcoole is that mid-level ‘commanders’ have much more autonomy to respond to issues like racial tensions. It also means if an intolerant figure is in charge of the UVF locally - and there have been many shifts in leadership over the past few years - then they may well be complicit. And the Shankill-based Brigade Staff would be none the wiser.

However, that is not the same as saying there is a single mastermind sitting behind the scenes pulling the strings of those predominantly younger people engaged in the trouble.

Whether paramilitaries were involved is a moot point for it is generally agreed the causes and course of the
riots in Belfast and elsewhere is not indicative of one overarching ‘puppet master’ pulling the strings.

As tempting though it may be to assert that paramilitary involvement explains the causes of the violence, it is important to place these riots in a wider perspective. One in which direct involvement is distinguished from active influence and/or passive influence in a broader strategic context.

Let me explain what I mean in a little more detail.

When asked for comment by the Irish News on 10th June, I mapped out a number of theories regarding paramilitary involvement and/or influence in this fast developing situation:

One theory is that, given several loyalist paramilitary leaderships have been in negotiations regarding paramilitary disbandment, it’s unlikely loyalist groups sanctioned the horrific scenes we witnessed on the streets last night.
It might be argued the tight leash governments and international donors have exerted on paramilitary groups makes it unlikely their membership were directed to become involved.
Another theory - a rather cynical one - is that paramilitary structures have not gone away because they have no intent to do so. By stepping back some of these groups are essentially saying to the authorities: “we can be useful in managing racial conflict.” By doing nothing they are trying to make themselves relevant. And that’s morally repugnant and dangerous.
It means, as the past two years of race based rioting has proven, some people in positions of authority actually buy into this vision of what some experts like Dr Sean Brennan have called ‘paramilitary peacekeeping’.

There was, of course, a third theory (mentioned above), in terms of the internal dynamics between central command structures and local leadership.

Nevertheless, you will hopefully see the point I am trying to make.

In all three scenarios, paramilitaries - and how the state, society and people all interact with them - can switch between passive influence, active influence and direct involvement, particularly when it comes to violence.

Curiously, as the trouble spread, there were even calls for paramilitaries to shift into direct involvement mode to ‘put the genie’ of race-based violence back in its bottle.

This is a tempting lever to reach for, as I have argued on many occasions before. There is even evidence to suggest it was used effectively when loyalist youths clashed with the PSNI in 2021.

In the context of the recent riots, I argued it might well stop one form of (race-based) violence but we risk embedding these groups further into a well-trodden pattern of (sectarian) violence.

What I should add is this approach continues to be favoured within policy and statutory communities.

Shifting Ground

Whether loyalist paramilitaries played a coordinated role or not, the ground beneath them is shifting.

More and more young people have proven themselves determined and coordinated when it comes to putting feet on the street, with or without paramilitary influence or direct involvement.

For close analysts of the security situation, these changes are not unexpected.

Indeed, it could be argued the past three summers of racially motivated rioting, signals two possible futures.

On the one hand, paramilitary groups will act to capitalise on the disaffection and go on a recruitment drive, particularly amongst those young people impacted by the criminal justice system.

On the other hand, new (malign) social movements may well emerge from the violence we witnessed earlier this month.

While some see paramilitaries as benevolent arbiters of social good - in old fashioned terms as ‘defenders’, others will see them as malevolent forces injurious to the greater good.

No matter what way you characterise them, they show no signs of going away anytime soon.

Rioting, whatever its cause, only makes them more relevant and places an onus on those charged with eradicating them from our midst to understand the changing character of the risks they pose to community safety.

Aaron Edwards is the author of critically acclaimed books, UVF: Behind the Mask and Agents of Influence: Britain’s Secret Intelligence War Against the IRA. His next book, Enemies Within, on the use of secret agents inside the UDA/UFF, will be published by Merrion Press in 2026.

No Smoke Without Fire?

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