Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I find it incredible that we are debating this issue. This is the 21st century. We need to move on. We need to recognise that religious belief, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim or other, is a personal matter to be respected but it is not the business of the State or Parliament to endorse in any way any particular religious belief. Standing Order 27 does precisely that. It calls on a spiritual divinity to direct the words and actions of democratically-elected representatives. I have not been sent here by the votes of the people in Dublin South-Central to have my words and actions directed by Jesus Christ. That is quite simply a fact. Since being elected to the Dáil in early 2011, I have not been able to participate in the opening ritual of the Parliament. I normally stay outside the Chamber when the prayer is being said or if I am caught short in the Chamber, I sit at the back until the prayer is over. I will not participate in it because I am not religious. I am atheist. It is wholly inappropriate for an elected Member to be in that position.

It is not the most important issue in the proper separation of church and State. The removal of the Christian prayer would be a good start. That is why I tabled an amendment to have a 30-second reflection or silence instead. The practice of Deputies praying is associated with the Westminster parliamentary tradition, as has been mentioned. The UK and Ireland are the only European parliaments that start their day with a prayer. It also happens in Australia, South Africa, Canada and the United States. In Europe there are no parliamentary prayers in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain or Sweden. That is a fact. In any other parliamentary democracy, they do not start proceedings with a prayer of one particular religion.

Staff in here also have to stand. Staff are instructed to tell people in the Gallery to stand while the prayer is being said. Everybody is pulled into this idea of the prayer in the Dáil. I worked in An Post and my day did not start with a prayer. It is a bad situation that workers who may not be of any Christian religion are being forced or are expected to do this in the Dáil. It is inappropriate in a modern, pluralistic republic and it infringes on the human right to freedom of conscience by forcing people to reveal, directly by standing or indirectly by sitting, information about their religious or non-religious philosophical beliefs. That has to be taken on board in this debate.

Far more important in real terms is the need to separate church and State in our education and health care systems. The fact that parents are being pressurised into baptising their children to get them into a State-funded school would be outrageous in any day and age, never mind today. The fact that a Minister of Health could even consider handing a maternity hospital, which is to be built with State funds to the tune of €300 million, to the ownership of a religious group involved in the scandal of child abuse and which has reneged on its financial commitment to the redress fund for victims of that abuse is simply mind boggling. These issues need to be confronted. We need to move on. The people have moved on and so-called Catholic Ireland belongs in the past. The recommendation of the Citizens' Assembly on the issue of the eighth amendment bears this out. I welcome its recommendation and will do all I can to ensure the House acts on it and sets a date for the referendum as quickly as possible.

At some stage we have to stop amending a Constitution which reflects the Ireland of the 1930s and is obviously not fit for purpose. We need to convene a democratically convened assembly with the task to write a completely new Constitution emphasising the rights of citizens as opposed to the rights of property, the State and the Catholic Church, a Constitution fit for a modern, democratic and secular republic in the 21st century.

We need to convene a democratic assembly and task it with writing a completely new Constitution, emphasising the rights of citizens rather than the rights of property, the State and the Catholic Church. We need a Constitution fit for a modern, democratic and secular republic in the 21st century. I urge everyone in this Chamber to think seriously about that. A 30 second reflection or silence would actually cover everybody, religious and non-religious alike, and allow them to express their views in this Dáil Chamber. Alternatively, I would be happy to support the amendment put forward by other Deputies.

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