David Quinn’s selective tolerance

By Anthony Sheridan

Recently, militant Catholic David Quinn blocked me on Twitter. Mr. Quinn was defending the reputation of the Catholic Church[CC].

 Here’s my ‘offending’ tweet:

Wrong.  The CC is global and Ireland was a particularly good breeding ground for brutal priests and nuns who obeyed orders without question.

I’m an atheist so it might be thought a block was to be expected but in fact myself and Quinn have engaged in various twitter discussions over a number of years without a block in sight. 

His decision to block me is all the more puzzling because just nine days later he wrote an article in the Sunday Times extolling his virtues of tolerance. 

He was writing about a matter of which both of us are in full agreement, the hilariously stupid decision of the Trinity College Historical Society to cancel an invitation to atheist Richard Dawkins to speak at the college.

Quinn strongly believes, as I do, that Dawkins should not have been banned, that free speech, no matter how controversial, is paramount.

To demonstrate his unlimited respect for free speech Quinn quoted some views held by Dawkins. 

That raising a child as a Catholic can be compared to sexual abuse.

That the Catholic Church is a disgusting institution. 

That the god of the Old Testament is a genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

Obviously, Quinn does not agree with these views but, because of his [apparent] respect for freedom of speech he’s prepared to defend Dawkins’ right to express them.

The decision by the Trinity Historical Society to cancel Dawkins’ speech was, according to Quinn:

Another example of cancel culture, which seeks to deprive people of platforms when their views are deemed offensive to certain groups.

So why, I ask, did Quinn ‘cancel culture’ me from his twitter link for making a relatively benign [and truthful] comment?

Hypocrisy, I suspect, is the answer.  In public Quinn pretends to be a hero of tolerance while in private he deletes those who challenge his beliefs, just as his Catholic Church has been doing for centuries.

Copy to:

David Quinn

Catholic Church: Dark influence still active

By Anthony Sheridan

Letter in today’s Irish Examiner.

The editor decided to remove a section from the final sentence.  I’ve reinstated the section in brackets.

There has been a great deal of outrage expressed at the treatment of former Garda Majella Moynihan.

Much of the comment has focused on the apparent cosy relationship between the An Garda Síochána and the Catholic Church, particularly on sexual and moral issues.

You might think that that dark period of Irish history has been firmly consigned to the past but current events tell a different story:

According to Social Democrat TD Roisin Shorthall, the State is awaiting a series of approvals from the Vatican before the new National Maternity Hospital can be handed over to state control.

Just two weeks ago, during the RTÉ documentary Divorcing God, we learned that a diocesan advisor monitors the teaching of sex education in Athenry Presentation College and reports his findings to the local bishop.

At the same school a religious teacher admitted that sex education is only taught because of a directive from the Department of Education. 

She went on to give an example of how the school flagrantly contradicts this State directive:

“I remind my students that this is a Catholic school and as a Catholic, you do not use contraceptives.”

So, as outpourings of outrage fill the air about the oppressive religious culture of decades ago we are currently appealing to a theocratic foreign state for permission to open a maternity hospital and instructing our children, on the brink of adulthood, not to use contraceptives.

Once again we are witnessing a strain of hypocrisy unique to Irish culture that expresses outrage about religious abuses so long as they are safely buried in the past. […while tolerating current abuses without lifting a finger to protect its victims.]

Anthony Sheridan

Cobh

Co Cork

Tuam – time to uncover the truth

 

By Anthony Sheridan

This short letter in the Irish Times, signed by 97 writers and artists, is the most powerful comment I have so far witnessed in response to the horror of Tuam.

Minister Katherine Zappone, the woman who will make the final decision on what is to be done, should have this letter enlarged, framed and placed on her desk to remind her that there is just one decision that leads to justice.

Any other decision will lead to cover-up and more suffering for those involved.

 

Tuam – time to uncover the truth

Sir,

We the undersigned writers and artists appeal to the Government to use the full force of its purse and power to undertake a complete excavation, identification where possible, and dignified reburial of the victims of Tuam. We further appeal for the Government to undertake an active and authentic attempt to identify the many missing individuals who will have been illegally adopted at home and abroad.

In light of significant, possibly criminal, failings at Tuam – of which the lack of burial records for 796 infants and children, the missing bodies of women, the verified existence of “significant quantities” of human remains, and the ongoing testimony of survivors are ample evidence – mere memorialisation is inadequate. Systematic exhumation is necessary to uncover the truth. The Government must use any and all resources (including, as necessary, resources of the Bon Secours Order) to complete a full excavation and identification of all remains on the site as has been consistently requested by Catherine Corless, survivors, and family members of those who lived in the Home. – Yours, etc,

MARY O’DONNELL,

DR AILBHE DARCY,

KIMBERLY

CAMPANELLO,

AIDEEN BARRY,

CARMEL BENSON,

MELONY BETHALA,

DR DYLAN BRENNAN,

MAIRÉAD BYRNE,

FIÓNA BOLGER,

JUNE CALDWELL,

MARY ROSE

CALLAGHAN,

ANNA CAREY,

EILEEN CASEY,

PAUL CASEY,

SARAH CLANCY,

JANE CLARKE,

PATRICK CHAPMAN,

BRÍD CONNOLLY,

SUSAN CONNOLLY,

JUNE CONSIDINE,

BRIGID CORCORAN,

MARION COX,

ENDA COYLE-GREENE,

CATHERINE

ANN CULLEN,

MADELEINE D’ARCY,

MARTINA DEVLIN,

MOYRA DONALDSON,

THEO DORGAN,

CATHERINE DUNNE,

ANNE ENRIGHT,

ATTRACTA FAHY,

TANYA FARRELLY,

ELAINE FEENEY,

KIT FRYATT,

MIA GALLAGHER,

ANTHONY GLAVIN,

SINÉAD GLEESON,

SHAUNA GILLIGAN,

JACKIE GORMAN,

DYLAN COBURN GRAY,

SARAH MARIA GRIFFIN,

VONA GROARKE,

MARY GUCKIAN,

MAURICE HARMON,

JACK HARTE,

JOANNE HAYDEN,

CLAIRE HENNESSY,

RITA ANN HIGGINS,

ELEANOR HOOKER,

VICTORIA KENNEFICK,

ANATOLY

KUDRYAVITSKY,

DAVE LORDAN,

AIFRIC MAC AODHA,

CATHERINE PHIL

MacCARTHY,

JOHN MacKENNA,

NUALA MACKLIN,

ALICE MAHER,

CHRISTODOULOS

MAKRIS,

OANA SANZIANA

MARIAN,

EMER MARTIN,

JOHN McAULIFFE,

FELICITY McCARTAN,

FLISH McCARTHY,

MOLLY McCLOSKEY,

MARIA McMANUS,

DECLAN MEADE,

PAULA MEEHAN,

LIA MILLS,

SINÉAD MORRISSEY,

PAUL MULDOON,

HELENA MULKERNS,

ANNE MULHALL,

SONYA MULLIGAN,

CHRISTINE MURRAY,

UNA NI CHEALLAIGH,

ANNEMARIE

NÍ CHURREÁIN,

NUALA NI CHONCHUIR,

DOIREANN NÍ GHRÍOFA,

EILEEN

NÍ SHUILLEABHÁIN,

LIZ NUGENT,

JEAN O’BRIEN,

MARGARET O’DONNELL,

JOHN O’DONOVAN,

NESSA O’MAHONY,

GERALDINE O’REILLY,

Dr ROBYN ROWLAND AO,

KARL PARKINSON,

JUSTIN QUINN,

CONNIE ROBERTS,

ANNETTE SKADE,

KELLY E. SULLIVAN,

ANNE TANNAM,

SUSAN TOMASELLI,

JESSICA TRAYNOR,

SAMANTHA WALTON,

DAVID WHEATLEY,

ADAM WYETH.

 

 

 

Mattie McGrath TD: A dangerous ignoramus

 

 

By Anthony Sheridan

Independent TD Mattie McGrath is a dangerous ignoramus and is therefore unfit to serve as a public representative.

His condemnation of those who have objected to the handing over of the €300 million maternity hospital to the Sisters of Charity clearly and disgracefully displays his ignorance of the heinous crimes against humanity committed by the Catholic Church over many decades.

I think this row is a storm in a teacup. As far as I can see it’s a just a bash the nuns period in Ireland.

When I hear morons like McGrath make such ignorant comments I think of the depraved priest Fr. Reynolds who admitted to abusing more than twenty girls, one of which he raped by inserting a crucifix into her vagina and back passage.

Reynolds is just one of thousands of priest, nuns and brothers responsible for the holocaust of abuse perpetrated by the Catholic Church against children and adults.

It is the long history of heinous crimes against humanity by the Catholic Church that forms the basis for the widespread revulsion of the Government’s decision to hand over the proposed €300 million National Maternity Hospital to the Sisters of Charity.

But according to McGrath the almost universal horror in response to Government plans is nothing more than a storm in a teacup.

There can be only two reasons for McGrath’s extreme views and ignorance.

Either he hasn’t read any of the many reports of recent years outlining in disgusting detail the countless accounts of horrific abuse carried out by priests and nuns or he is aware of these reports but believes the current objections to the handing over of the hospital to the Catholic Church constitute a greater injustice than the decades of horror.

If McGrath has not read or sufficiently informed himself of the crimes committed by the Catholic Church then he is unfit to serve as a public representative.

If he is aware of the crimes but still believes, as he has stated, that the objections are actually outrageous sectarian attacks on the nuns, then it is reasonable to conclude that his natural morality has been seriously damaged by the warped morality of the Catholic Church.

Here’s an example of the brutal reality McGrath’s damaged morality refuses to see.

Extract from the Ryan Report:

One person described how they attempted to tell nuns they had been molested by an ambulance driver, only to be “stripped naked and whipped by four nuns to ‘get the devil out of you.”

Another described how they were removed from their bed and “made to walk around naked with other boys whilst brothers used their canes and flicked at their penis.”

Yet another was “tied to a cross and raped whilst others masturbated at the side.”

McGrath compounds his ignorance by supporting what I call the idiot’s myth regarding the running of hospitals by nuns. This idiot’s myth claims that if only the nuns were put back in charge of hospitals all the problems besetting the health service would instantly disappear.

Put in a couple of nuns with buckets and scrubbing brushes supervised by a matron with the mindset of a parade ground sergeant major and they would be performing open heart surgery before you could say – most Irish politicians are gombeen morons.

Here’s McGrath’s response when asked if religious orders should be taken out of the health service completely.

They are mainly out of it and we can see the bedlam. When we had matrons and sisters in charge of the hospitals, they were clean, they were efficiently ran, they weren’t over staffed with managers and they did a good job.

Here’s the reality that McGrath’s damaged morality is incapable of comprehending.

Extract from the Murphy Report:

The complainant alleged that the nun was complicit in the abuse on these occasions and that the nun herself participated in the abuse and watched it taking place. She alleged that she was gang-raped by three or four men in that house and that Fr. Cassius was one of the participants in the rape.

McGrath and ignorant politicians like him are unfit for public office.

Copy to:

McGrath

 

 

Religion should have no control over the political process

 

Religion VS Politics

By Anthony Sheridan

During a debate on the issue of the Dail prayer Independent TD Mattie McGrath revealed the following astonishing incident.

We had a Muslim delegation here recently (meeting with a Dail committee) and we stood for ten minutes listening to their prayers before we started.

It is an absolute disgrace that any religious rite would be allowed such access and control over members of a so-called democratic republic.

Copy to:

Mattie McGrath TD

 

Catholic Church: The brutal truth

By Anthony Sheridan

Truth poses the single greatest threat to those who wield power within a corrupt political/administrative system such as the one that currently operates in Ireland.

The corrupt and those who support the corrupt must ensure that the truth is denied, warped or simply ignored.

We witness this culture of truth denying in abundance in response to the latest atrocities committed by the Catholic Church.

So here’s the truth in all its brutality:

The crimes committed by the Catholic Church in Tuam and countless other locations around the country since the foundation of the State are nothing less than crimes against humanity.

Crimes against humanity: Certain acts that are deliberately committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population or an identifiable part of a population.

Cimes against humanity are not isolated or sporadic events but are part either of a government policy or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority.

 

The following are just some of the crimes against humanity committed by the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Dehumanisation

Human experimentation

Extrajudicail punishments

Forced disappearances

Kidnapping

Unjust imprisonment

Slavery

Torture

Rape

Child trafficking

Operation of forced labour camps

Brain washing

Sale of corpes to medical establishments

Illegal disposal of victim’s bodies

 

The following people, organisations and institutions are directly responsible for these crimes against humanity.

The Catholic Church from the Pope down to the individual nuns and priests who committed the crimes.

The politicans who handed over absolute power to the Catholic Church.

State institutions such as the Gardai, Dept. of Justice, Dept. of Education, those responsible for child welfare to name just a few.

The following mealy-mouthed excuses do not in any way exonerate those guilty of crimes against humanity.

They Catholic Church did more good than bad.

It was in the context of the time.

We’re all to blame.

We were just obeying orders.

The whole thing is exaggerated.

The fathers are to blame.

The families of the victims are to blame.

The British are to blame.

We must learn lessons and move on (without looking back).

If these excuses are acceptable, and many defenders of the Catholic Church do accept them, then the great bulk of Nazi concentration camp commandants/guards are also innocent.

When the people of Ireland remove the corrupt political system that played a major role in these crimes against humanity and replace it with a properly functioning democratic republic the following actions should be taken.

A formal complaint of crimes against humanity against the Catholic Church and other religions submitted to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

An immediate and wide-ranging criminal investigation by the Gardai.

The immediate seizure of church property to be liquified and used to compensate the survivers.

The immediate freezing of all church financial assets as a stick to ensure compliance with state authorities.

A complete separation of Church and State.

A complete secularisation of all state funded schools and hospitals.

Anything less than the above measures will constitute a further crime against the countless thousands of victims of the Catholic Church.

Fergus Finlay: Damaged by vile corruption?

 

By Anthony Sheridan

Once again Fergus Finlay is anguishing over the horrors inflicted on Grace by the State. Here are some of his anguished comments taken from Today with Sean O’Rourke:

It’s one of the most shaming things that I’ve come across for a long, long time.

It’s impossible to believe that in the 1990s and 2000s our systems are allowed to run like that.

This is something that has happened again and again and again. It’s not enough to know what happened, we have to know why it happened.

Here’s why it happened and why it will continue to happen.

Ireland is an intrinsically corrupt state where, over several decades, a cabal of political parties principally made up of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour morphed into a corrupt ruling class.

In effect, Ireland is a one party state where these three entities pretend to be separate parties while plundering the State’s resources and abusing its citizens.

The system became irretrievably infected with the disease of corruption in 1979 when the criminal politician Haughey came to power and reached its catastrophic end in 2008 when the rotten system careered over the cliff of economic disaster taking with it the wealth, dreams, ambitions and, most of all, the trust of the Irish people.

Since that year of national betrayal a significant and growing number of citizens have been actively working to bring down the entire rotten edifice and replace it, for the first time in history, with a truly democratic republic.

This corrupt system, which Finlay so admires, is directly responsible for the creation of a culture where vulnerable citizens like Grace are left unprotected and vulnerable to the devices of extremely evil and brutal people.

Lest anyone think I’m being too harsh on Finlay, consider this:

On the very day he was shedding crocodile tears over the horrors inflicted on Grace an article, written by him, was published in the Irish Examiner praising Enda Kenny, one of the principal architects of the corrupt political culture responsible for her suffering.

Finlay’s article is a grave insult to the countless thousands of Irish citizens, including Grace, who have suffered and even died as a direct result of political corruption.

The article is sickening in its pathetic attempt at lightheartedness when writing about a man who is responsible for so much damage and suffering.

Here’s a sample of quotes:

There may be a few moves in Enda yet – a tango with Angela, a cha-cha-cha with the entire European Council.

When all is said and done, Enda Kenny will be remembered, I think, as being bigger than the sum of his parts.

Maintaining the dignity of a small country that believes in human rights, while also protecting the special relationship we have with a country that is vital to our interests, is no small task. (On Kenny’s St. Patrick’s Day visit to the White House)

Here’s a fact: Grace will never dance a tango or a cha-cha-cha. The corrupt political system, as represented by Enda Kenny, has seen to that.

Here’s another fact: Grace will never be remembered for the sum of her parts because the corrupt political system responsible for her nightmare destroyed any potential she may have had for happiness.

And a final fact:

To even think, never mind actually print, that a compulsive liar like Kenny represents an administration that believes in human rights, given all the vile revelations of recent decades, is nothing less than vomit inducing.

The most charitable interpretation of Finlay’s blind loyalty to the corrupt political system that has wreaked such devastating damage and suffering on Ireland and its people is that he too has been somehow damaged by its vile influence.

Copy to:

Fergus Finlay

 

The evil that is martyrdom

 

voltaire-writer-i-am-very-fond-of-truth-but-not-at-all-of

By Anthony Sheridan

According to militant Catholic David Quinn, Fr. Jacques Hamel, the Catholic priest who was murdered recently in France, is a martyr.

This is a questionable claim when we look at the definition of the word martyr.

One who chooses to suffer death rather than renounce religious principles.

The key word here is ‘chooses’.

I don’t know what went on in that church in the lead up to Fr. Hamel’s murder but I suspect that he was not given the choice of living or dying for his faith.

If that is the case then he is not a martyr but simply another victim of religious fanaticism that is responsible for the deaths of countless millions down through the centuries.

The two religious fanatics who murdered Fr. Hamel are, however, most certainly martyrs. While planning the attack on the church they must have known that they too were almost certainly going to die. In other words, they chose to die fighting Christian infidels in defence of their particular god.

It is a measure of the irrationality of religion that martyrdom can be seen as a positive/holy act.

Any person, who chooses to die for his particular god, whether as a result of murdering or being murdered, is doing so from a mind that has been damaged by the disease of religion.

If a person has become so religiously fanatical as to allow his own body to be murdered in the name of his particular god then in all likelihood he is also capable of murdering others for the same reason.

We only have to look at history to confirm this truth.

Copy to:

David Quinn

Diamaid Ferriter: Mean-spirited in giving credit to Atheist Ireland

indoctrination-quotes-4
Historian Diamaid Ferriter has an excellent article in today’s Irish Times on the issue of what he rightly describes as the blatantly sectarian education system operating in our country.

Widespread discrimination backed up by a range of draconian state laws are the order of the day for parents who do not want their children indoctrinated into the faith of the Catholic Church.

Some parents have been forced to resort to the humiliating practice of baptising their children against their wishes; such is the stranglehold that exists, bolstered by the Equal Status Act 2000, which permits schools to discriminate in their admissions policy on the basis of religion.

Mr. Ferriter’s article is, unfortunately, somewhat spoiled by his mean-spirited failure to give credit to Atheist Ireland, ably led by Michael Nugent, as the driving force resonsible for bringing, and keeping, this disgraceful discrimination to the attention of the wider public.

Atheist Ireland banned while Iona Institute enjoys full access to schools

A Dublin-based Dominican girl’s secondary school has cancelled a formal invitation to Atheist Ireland chairperson Michael Nugent to speak to a group of final year students.

The comprehensive response by Atheist Ireland to the disgraceful and cowardly decision can be seen here.

This refusal to allow Atheist Ireland address students is in stark contrast to the apparent unrestricted access to students afforded to religious militants like David Quinn.

Last April Mr. Quinn, who is director and founder of the Iona Institute, a Catholic pressure group, wrote in triumph about how he lectured students regarding the alleged weaknesses of science when compared to the so-called strengths of his religion.

Here’s his opening paragraphs:

By David Quinn
April 3, 2014
Irish Catholic

The question of the origin of the universe isn’t a scientific one at all, but a philosophical and religious one, writes David Quinn

I was in a school a few days ago addressing a group of fifth and sixth years about ‘the new atheism’. There is actually very little that’s new about the new atheism because it hasn’t developed any new killer arguments in favour of atheism. The only thing that’s new about it is that it is newly in vogue thanks to best-selling writers like the scientist, Richard Dawkins.

I made a formal complaint to the Department of Education regarding Mr. Quinn’s biased and dishonest lecture.

I am reproducing the article I wrote on the issue including the correspondence between the department and me.

Is the Iona Institute guilty of intellectually abusing schoolchildren?

Posted on 17th July 2014

Last April, religious militant and director of the Iona Institute David Quinn, delivered a lecture to fifth and sixth year students falsely informing them that the origin of the universe had nothing to do with science but was strictly a matter for religion/philosophy (See full article here).

There is an abundance of scientific evidence relating to the origin of the universe. Scientific discoveries such as background radiation, inflation and the recently discovered gravitational waves are all scientific facts supporting the idea that the origin of the universe is scientific.

In stark contrast, Mr. Quinn’s claim that the origin of the universe is a philosophical and religious one has no basis in fact whatsoever.

Despite centuries of philosophical and religious debate on the question of the origin of the universe not a single fact has been produced to confirm the myriad of speculative opinions emanating from that quarter.

What is really disturbing about this incident is the fact that Mr. Quinn and the Iona Institute appear to have unrestricted access to propagate what is effectively, religious propaganda to innocent students.

It is obvious from reading Mr. Quinn’s article that his lecture had nothing to do with genuine education, that it was not designed to inform students about the pros and cons in the debate between science and religion.

In addition to the lie concerning the origin of the universe Mr. Quinn’s lecture seems to have been nothing more than a vicious attack on New Atheism and in particular on Richard Dawkins.

Mr. Quinn regularly makes such attacks across various media outlets and, while rationally obnoxious, he is entitled to hold and express those views.
But what is not acceptable and what is deeply disturbing, is the apparent freedom extended to the Iona Institute to effectively intellectually abuse innocent schoolchildren.

I made a formal complaint on the matter to the Department of Education.

The response, while entirely predictable, was nevertheless shocking.

Effectively, the Department said – Nothing to do with us, it’s the responsibility of the boards of management and the patron of each school (See below for my formal complaint, reply from Dept. of Education and my response).

This is the same irresponsible response by the Dept/Government as that taken in the Louise O’Keeffe scandal.

Ms. O’Keeffe, who had been sexually abused by a teacher as a schoolgirl in the 1970s, lost her case for justice in the Irish High and Supreme Courts but finally found justice when the decision of the Irish courts was overturned by the European Court of Human Rights.

Although disgusting in the extreme it seems that this ‘legal arrangement’ is proving very useful to politicians and civil servants as a means of abdicating any responsibility whatsoever towards protecting children from abuse whether physical, sexual or intellectual.

Copy to:
Department of Education
Iona Institute
All political parties

Formal complaint: 10 April 2014

For attention of Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn

This is a formal complaint regarding a lecture delivered by the director of the Iona Institute David Quinn to a group of fifth and sixth year students earlier this month.

Mr. Quinn wrote about his lecture in an article in the Irish Catholic newspaper of 3 April last. The title of the article, which is provided in full below, is:

The atheist’s act of faith

The question of the origin of the universe isn’t a scientific one at all, but a philosophical and religious one.

My complaint is as follows:

Mr. Quinn’s lecture is based entirely on a falsehood; namely that the origin of the universe is not a scientific one at all but rather a philosophical and religious one.

There is an abundance of scientific evidence relating to the origin of the universe. Scientific discoveries such as background radiation, inflation and the recently discovered gravitational waves are all factual events that give the lie to Mr. Quinn’s claim that the question of the origin of the universe is not scientific.

Furthermore, Mr. Quinn’s claim that the question of the origin of the universe is a philosophical and religious one has no basis in fact whatsoever.

Despite centuries of philosophical and religious debate on the question of the origin of the universe not a single fact has been produced to confirm the myriad of speculative opinions emanating from that quarter.

In effect, Mr. Quinn was permitted to encourage students to ignore established scientific facts regarding the origin of the universe and instead accept that his Christian god created the universe.

It is unacceptable and indeed disturbing that somebody with a very strong religious bias like Mr. Quinn would be granted apparent unrestricted access to students to promote a religious viewpoint based on a falsehood.

It is unacceptable and indeed disturbing that any outside influence would be permitted apparent unrestricted access to students to promote a particular view without the long established safeguards of independent/objective supervision and the right to hear an opposing argument.

According to legislation the Board of Management of schools are accountable to the patron and to the Minister. This complaint is addressed to the Minister in this context.

Yours sincerely
Anthony Sheridan

Response from Department of Education:

Dear Mr Sheridan

I refer to your letter addressed to the Minister for Education and Skills.

While this Department sets out the constitution of Boards of Management and rules of procedure it is not directly involved in the management of schools. Under the provisions of the Education Act, 1998, the Board of Management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school. The schools Board of Management is accountable to the school Patron.

Accordingly, whereas the Department provides funding and policy direction for schools, the Department does not have the power to instruct schools to follow a particular course of direction with regard to individual complaint cases.

Religious Education is one of 33 Leaving Certificate subjects available to schools. The selection of text books and classroom resources to support the implementation of the curriculum is made by schools, rather than by the Department of Education and Skills or the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

The Office of the Ombudsman for Children may independently investigate complaints relating to the administrative actions of a school recognised by the Department of Education and Skills, provided the complainant has firstly and fully followed the school’s complaints procedures. The key criterion for any intervention by the Ombudsman for Children is that the administrative actions of a school has, or may have, adversely affected the child. The office can be contacted at: Ombudsman for Children’s Office, Millennium House, 52-56 Great Strand Street, Dublin 1; tel. 1800 20 20 40 or (01) 865 6800 or email oco@oco.ie.

I hope the information that provided is of assistance to you.

Yours sincerely,

My response to the Department of Education

28 May 2014

To Whom It May Concern:

Your response to my formal complaint concerning a lecture delivered to fifth and six-year students by the director of the Iona Institute David Quinn is a disgrace for the following reasons.

One: Apart from issuing meaningless bureaucratic waffle, the decision to do nothing will almost certainly result in some degree of damage to innocent children.

After decades of horrific child abuse the very least we could expect of officialdom is to make some enquiries into the matter. Given the history of child abuse in Ireland it is highly likely that the Iona Institute is not the only organisation that enjoys unrestricted access to preach religious and other damaging propaganda to children.

Two: Your indifferent response is a further disturbing reflection of how unprofessional civil servants have become. Scandal after scandal, on an almost weekly basis, gives witness to this decay of professionalism right across all departments.

Three: Your response is an insult to my intelligence. It is an obvious fact that the Department of Education is intimately involved in every aspect of education across all levels. It is also a fact that if you wished, you could easily carry out an investigation into this matter.

That you chose not to thus placing children in potential danger is a disgrace on you and your profession.

Yours etc.,
Anthony Sheridan