Cheap and easy access to divorce at the choice of either partner. The Bishops have almost a complete stranglehold on education in the Republic where there are only ten multi-denominational primary schools. Priests chair the most of the management boards of primary schools and they have a major influence on who teaches in their schools. But it is the taxpayer who funds education, pays teachers and building costs. The Catholic Church has a similar influence in the running of hospitals, insisting that its values determine what medical services are offered.
Socialists believe that religion is a private matter.
Everyone should be free to follow their religious opinions. Public institutions should be secular. Over recent times, government and the media have stepped up hysteria against refugees. They want to find scapegoats to blame for the failures of the Celtic Tiger. Nor can refugees be blamed for the orgy of greed which has put private houses beyond the reach of many working people.