IRELAND
National Secular Society
Posted: Tue, 26 May 2015 by Keith Porteous Wood
The Catholic Church is now paying the price for its past in Ireland
NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood welcomes the Irish referendum result on marriage equality and argues that the Catholic Church’s appalling recent history in Ireland shows it deserves to be discredited- as it now has been, by the overwhelming referendum “Yes” result.
Last week, Ireland’s citizens voted in a landslide to legalise same-sex marriage. Unsurprisingly, the constituencies most in favour of “Yes” were within 50 miles of Dublin followed by the larger cities. Those least in favour tended to be nearest to the meandering border with Northern Ireland, probably with a higher proportion of protestant voters. Variations in the percentage of turnout did not impact on the overall result. More rural areas tend to be less in favour, but not always. While the very rural Mayo and Galway East were only just in favour, the even more remote Galway west was over 60% in favour.
The major lessons of the Irish referendum endorsement of same sex marriage by nearly 2:1 are religion-connected.
Primarily, it showed just how out of step the Catholic Church is with the Irish population. Even more striking is the speed with which this country, so recently completely in hock to that same Church, has changed diametrically. Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, notably more realistic than many of his episcopal brethren, recognised that the Referendum signified a “social revolution” that did not happen in one day. Indeed.
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