Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the broad approach the Taoiseach seems to be taking to this. It is important that we give it time and get it right. It is not just important for religious communities, which are in a state of real change at the moment. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin asked the right question at the time of the Pope's visit last year, that is, "Where are our young people and where are they going?" They are not going to church, by and large, but they are finding their own way and we need to give them space for that. We need to help our institutions and the Catholic Church in their evolution. It is also important that the political system is not seen as completely disinterested in, or dismissive of, those communities as they are an important part of the overall community. We have seen what can happen in other countries when one creates a sense in certain communities being ignored or left behind. The session being held in July to discuss a new covenant is a good idea, for the political system as well as members of faith communities and, indeed, people who are not members of any faith.

There was a book on this subject entitled, A Dialogue of Hope, by a collection of authors including Gerry O'Hanlon SJ, David Begg, Dermot McCarthy, Dermot A. Lane and Iseult Honohan, who all have experience of community life and public service. Their contribution frames the broad outline of what is happening in the State and suggests where a dialogue with faith communities might fit in. I suggest some of these authors, who are not from any one community but who have been thinking about this matter, be included at the event the Taoiseach is holding in July. We should all support a dialogue so that the divestment of our education patronage can proceed and so that we can have diversity in our hospitals and care systems, while not dismissing or undervaluing the benefits that come from faith communities and other communities.

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