> Organised religion has no power in Ireland.
Wow. I really cannot agree with you on this. The Church still has an enormous amount of power and influence here, a key example being its control of something like 95% of the schools in the 26 Counties - which, among other things, allows it to essentially control what Irish people are taught about abortion (etc). You can't overstate the effect of this. I'm regularly shocked by the number of people I come in contact with in Ireland who are otherwise left-wing but nonetheless hold strong anti-abortion views. I am convinced this is due to the Church's influence because I simply never encountered it in the US or England - *except* among devout, pacifist Catholics, which is a good example of an exception proving the rule, I think. And I've heard the same surprise expressed by expats I know from the US, England, Canada, Australia - abortion is basically a left-right issue in most of those countries. Why isn't it here? Because of the Church. Why else?
It's also been in the news lately that in a number of areas, children are being denied access to their local school - which is almost always a Catholic school - unless their parents can produce a baptismal certificate. And I have a friend who is a qualified language resource teacher - a skill that is *desperately* needed in schools today - who has been unable to find work because she lives in a western county where all the schools are Catholic and she isn't. The law allows them to discriminate against her on that basis (even though she wouldn't be teaching religion!) and the Minister, who is generally believed to be a member of Opus Dei, has flatly refused to intervene.
The Taoiseach said in the Dáil just last week that he believes there is a role for the Church in the running of the State and the most likely alternate Taoiseach, having recently described Ireland as a Christian country, is hardly going to challenge that position if he gets into office.
Of course things are not as bad as they used to be, when even divorce and contraception were illegal, but we've still a *long* way to go to get to a point where it can truly be said that the Church has "no power" here!