IRELAND
Irish Independent

Jody Corcoran

24/05/2015

The overwhelming Yes vote in favour of same-sex marriage must represent an end to the influence and power of the Catholic church over the political and social trajectory of politics and society.

But as the country embarks on a new era, post Celtic Tiger, economic collapse and austerity, this is a good time to ask: With what have we replaced the overbearing authority of that discredited church?

The decline of the church’s influence over the nation’s morals, more specifically over education, health and, to a lesser extent, social services, has been evident for more than three decades.

That diminished authority is more often than not associated with revelations to do with the sexual abuse of children, which began to emerge in the mid-1990s.

It can be pinpointed, however, to the first in a series of scandals when the Bishop of Galway, Eamon Casey,…