With the general election campaign in full swing, voters for whom marriage, religious education and freedom of religion are important issues need to inform themselves on these issues. Here is where the three main parties stand.

Fine Gael

Marriage and Family: Fine Gael says in its manifesto that “it recognises the value of
the family based on marriage.”

The party pledges to remove the marriage penalty from the Social
Welfare code which is up to €66 per week.

(According to ‘Families in Ireland’, a
document produced on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs in
2008, if two single people on social welfare were to marry, they would lose
€66.50 per week by marrying or living
together).

The manifesto acknowledges that
reforming the marriage penalty in the social
welfare code would be very expensive if done immediately but it commits to
changing the system gradually.

The manifesto also commits Fine Gael to refrain
from cutting the ‘Home Carers Tax Credit’, which was introduced by Fianna Fáil
in 1999 to ameliorate the effects of its tax individualisation policy, although
it did this to only a very small extent.

However, the manifesto does not commit the
party to further easing the impact of tax individualisation on single income
couples.

The party’s manifesto also says that one of
its priorities is to “ensure children’s rights are strengthened through a
Constitutional referendum”.

However, perhaps the most significant aspect of the manifesto from
this point of view is not any specific policy promise, but Fine Gael’s
recognition of “the value of the family based on the institution of marriage”.

Fine Gael have previously
said, in response to question from The Irish Catholic, that they would
not favour a referendum to change the Constitutional provisions
on marriage. Case law has defined marriage
as being between a man and a woman.

Education: On education, Fine Gael says that the current situation with
over 90 per cent of primary schools under Church patronage is “not reflective
of the needs of a modern Irish school system”.

The party says it
will hold a National Forum on Education “to allow all stakeholders,
including parents to engage in an open debate on a change of patronage in
communities where it is appropriate and necessary”.

On denominational schools, Fine Gael told the
Irish Catholic that they support the right of such schools to exist and to receive public funding.

However, they were unclear as to whether
denominational schools should retain the right to set their own admissions
policies. They also refused to state their position on retaining Section 37 of
the Employment Equality Act, which allows schools to protect their ethos in
respect of who they hire.

It adds that, in Government,
Fine Gael “will encourage schools to develop anti-bullying policies and in
particular, strategies to combat homophobic bullying to support students”.

Freedom of Conscience: Fine Gael says that
it supports the right of faith-based organisations to receive State-funding
without compromising their ethos.

However, as mentioned above, in response to
questions from the Irish Catholic, Fine Gael were unclear as to whether denominational
schools should retain the right to set their own admissions policies. They also
refused to state their position on retaining Section 37 of the Employment
Equality Act, which allows schools to protect their ethos in respect of who
they hire.

In opposition, it opposed creating a
conscience clause for the Civil Partnership Bill, as did all the other parties
in the Oireachtas.

Labour

Marriage and Family: Labour have
committed to holding a referendum to legalise same-sex marriage.

Labour’s manifesto also clearly states that
the party “supports entitling all parties to a marriage or civil partnership to
apply to adopt a child”

Education: Labour’s manifesto
commits the party to changing Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act that it
favours forcing schools to hire openly homosexual teachers, which would make it
impossible for Catholic schools to teach Catholic sexual morality in full.

The document also said that the party would
force teacher training colleges to end compulsory religious education.

It says: “Labour will ensure the five
teaching colleges introduce a Freedom of Conscience clause so that trainee
teachers no longer are obliged to undergo compulsory religious education.”

Like Fine Gael, Labour’s manifesto pledges to
hold a National Forum on school patronage open to participation from all the
stakeholders in the education sector, “with the aim of ensuring that our
education system can provide a sufficiently diverse number of schools which
cater for all religions and none”.

However its manifesto says that, in
government, Labour will “negotiate the transfer of school infrastructure
currently owned by the 18 religious orders cited in the Ryan Report, at no
extra cost, to the State”.

It adds that the existing patronage and
activities of these schools “will remain unchanged”.

It says that Labour “will also ensure that
school buildings and land are zoned for educational use, so that they cannot
easily be sold and lost to the system”.

Labour also says it would allow
denominational schools to continue to receive public funds.

Freedom of Conscience: Labour say they
support the right of faith-based organisations to receive State-funding without
compromising their ethos. However, as mentioned above, they favour heavily
amending Section 37, which would effectively remove the ability of
denominational schools to secure their distinctive ethos.

Fianna Fáil

Marriage and Family: Fianna Fáil’s
manifesto had nothing to say on marriage specifically in any of its election documents. However, in
response to queries from the Irish Catholic, it said that it favoured retaining
the current Constitutional position on marriage.

Education: Fianna Fáil told
the Irish Catholic that they favour the retention of Section 37, and the right
of denominational schools to teach all aspects of their faith, including sexual
morality. However, they were less clear as to whether denominational schools
should be allowed to admit pupils of their own faith ahead of other children.

They told the Irish Catholic they favoured
schools having this right “provided no applicant is being discriminated
against”.

Freedom of Conscience: Fianna Fáil is
ambiguous on this issue. Asked specifically whether it would support funding
Cura, the Catholic pregnancy counselling agency, if it had an ethical objection
to carrying out some aspect of HSE Crisis Pregnancy Agency
policy, Fianna Fáil said: “In the event of an agency declining to
provide information out of a moral, philosophical or conscientious basis, we
believe funding could still be provided, where the agency is of the opinion
that fair guidelines of eligibility, transparency and most importantly the
welfare of women in crisis are taken into account.”

In Government, Fianna Fáil rejected repeated
calls to insert a provision protecting the consciences of civil registrars or
of those responsible for the leasing of parish halls in respect of their Civil
Partnership legislation.