Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

It is time to look again at the relationship between the church and State. The Preamble to the Constitution states: "In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred, We, the people of Éire, Humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ..."

Article 44 states: "It shall hold His Name in reverence, and shall respect and honour religion". This has to change. In particular, that reference in Article 44 must change to move with the times. I do not say that those of us who profess religion should not show respect to a deity but we are sending out the wrong message to the Muslim, the Hindu, the Sikh, the agnostic and to those who do not believe in a God. Painful though it may be, we must separate the church from the State. It is an important issue and it must be tackled. The special place of the Catholic Church and the reference to Jesus Christ in the Preamble to our Constitution must change.

We must also change the right of church representatives to chair school boards of management. We must provide more funding to multidenominational schools. Educate Together makes a strong plea for increased funding and we must honour that plea. We must provide a strong vetting system for those working with children. The gardaí simply do not have the resources needed to deal with this issue.

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