Formed to advocate and lobby for strict separation of church and State
This is an article by Louise Neylon showing how marriage has changed in Ireland in recent years.
The changes have implications for education policy at primary level (National Schools) in the context of the patronage (ownership and control) of our schools in the near future.
These three pages comprise a facsimile of the letter (October 1831) from Chief Secretary (Ireland), Edward Stanley, to the Duke of Leinster (senior Irish peer) to appoint him President of the Commissioners of National Education under instructions from the imperial government.
The Stanley Letter sets out the precepts for the National School system.
[Public Record Office of Ireland: State Paper Office, 1984]
John Colgan (on Twitter @ColganJohn and Facebook) has compiled some interesting data about the changing nature of marriage in Ireland from Census 2016 and other databases via the Central Statistics Office.
Table #1.
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Trend | |
| As a % of Natl.Total | 59.3 | 56.7 | 56.3 | 52.3 | -2.3% per annum |
| Leinster | 50.5 | 47.1 | 45.8 | 42.4 | -2.7% per annum |
| Munster | 57.9 | 65.5 | 65.2 | 61 | -2.3% pa, last 2 yr. |
| Connacht | 71.2 | 70.3 | 71.1 | 68.3 | -1.0% per annum |
| Ulster (Part) | 65.2 | 64.2 | 66.5 | 63.3 | -1.9% total |
Table #2.
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Trend | |
| National Total Nos. | 7881 | 8242 | 7990 | 8589 | |
| 35.70% | 37.4 | 37 | 40.4 | +1.6% per annum | |
| Leinster | 4864 | 5078 | 5070 | 5350 | |
| 43.70% | 45.5 | 46.4 | 49.7 | +2% per annum | |
| Munster | 1714 | 1876 | 1818 | 2057 | |
| 28.60% | 30.7 | 30.1 | 34.4 | +1.9% per annum | |
| Connacht | 701 | 742 | 650 | 777 | |
| 25.80% | 25.6 | 23.4 | 26.5 | +0.2% per annum | |
| Ulster (Pt.) | 526 | 546 | 452 | 481 | |
| 26.40% | 28.7 | 24.6 | 26.7 | +0.1% per annum |
| Same Gender marriages celebrated in each county and city during 2017 classified by form of ceremony | |||||
| Form of ceremony | |||||
| Province, county or city | Civil marriages | The Humanist Association | The Spiritualist Union of Ireland | Other religious denominations | Total |
| TOTAL | 527 | 111 | 76 | 45 | 759 |
| LEINSTER | 369 | 74 | 55 | 22 | 520 |
| Carlow | 6 | – | – | 1 | 7 |
| Dublin City | 258 | 27 | 4 | 7 | 296 |
| South Dublin | 1 | 2 | 1 | – | 4 |
| Fingal | 10 | 3 | 5 | – | 18 |
| Dun Laoghaire Rathdown | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 15 |
| Kildare | 17 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 34 |
| Kilkenny | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| Laois | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Longford | 2 | – | – | – | 2 |
| Louth | 13 | 5 | 1 | – | 19 |
| Meath | 6 | 11 | 17 | 4 | 38 |
| Offaly | 2 | – | – | – | 2 |
| Westmeath | 5 | – | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| Wexford | 14 | 2 | 6 | – | 22 |
| Wicklow | 21 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 34 |
| MUNSTER | 79 | 29 | 12 | 9 | 129 |
| Clare | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| Cork City | 29 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 34 |
| Cork County | 7 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 21 |
| Kerry | 10 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 18 |
| Limerick City | 12 | 2 | – | – | 14 |
| Limerick County | – | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| North Tipperary | 3 | 1 | 1 | – | 5 |
| South Tipperary | 5 | 1 | – | – | 6 |
| Waterford City | 7 | 2 | 3 | – | 12 |
| Waterford County | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| CONNACHT | 57 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 75 |
| Galway City | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 16 |
| Galway County | 24 | 1 | – | 5 | 30 |
| Leitrim | 2 | – | – | – | 2 |
| Mayo | 8 | – | – | 1 | 9 |
| Roscommon | 4 | – | 2 | – | 6 |
| Sligo | 11 | – | – | 1 | 12 |
| ULSTER (part of) | 22 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 35 |
| Cavan | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| Donegal | 20 | 1 | 2 | – | 23 |
| Monaghan | – | 2 | 2 | – | 4 |
| REGIONAL AUTHORITIES | |||||
| Border | 48 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 68 |
| Midland | 10 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 21 |
| West | 44 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 61 |
| Dublin | 275 | 36 | 14 | 8 | 333 |
| Mid-East | 44 | 27 | 26 | 9 | 106 |
| Mid-West | 18 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 29 |
| South-East | 42 | 9 | 14 | 3 | 68 |
| South-West | 46 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 73 |
In 2017 the proportion of all marriages solemnised outside a church context but registered in the State was 40.4% of the total. This has huge implications for the government’s National School divestment policy, which is proceeding at a glacial pace and won’t be sufficient to meet the latent demand for more secular classrooms right across the land, in just a few years time.
So far Minister Bruton has only managed to create 12 Community National Schools (CNS) during his term in office.
Once the 8,000, or so, secular couples (2017) start producing children eligible for Junior Infants admission (from 2021 onwards), the demand for their child’s Constitutional right under Article 44.2.4 not to receive religious instruction will only become more pressing.
This is the demographic time-bomb ticking away.