Irish Labour Party Calls for State Confiscation of Church Property, Ulster Taig, April 10, 2009

Irish Labour Party Calls for State Confiscation of Church Property

Ulster Taig
April 10, 2009

http://ulstertaig.blogspot.com/2009/04/irish-labour-party-calls-for-state.html

In a very chilling press release, Ruari Quinn, the Education Spokesman for the Irish Labour Party, has called on the Irish government to expropriate all Catholic primary schools to state ownership. He claims that this is just deserts for the government's (partial) payout in sexual abuse claims.

I think it is fair that the state takes the title deeds to all schools in the state in return for covering the Church's liabilities in these abuse claims.

This proposal of his is extremely unjust because practically all the primary schools are under diocesan ownership yet the payout deal he refers to was made with religious orders. These primary schools were mostly built in an era of great poverty and relied on the pitiful contributions of the Catholic poor, who would be aghast at the notion that the schools they lovingly built would be alienated to the state. This prospect of state theft is made all the more alarming when you consider that the Labour Party is almost certainly going to be included in the next government.

It is also contrary to Article 44.2.6 of the Irish Constitution:

The property of any religious denomination or any educational institution shall not be diverted save for necessary works of public utility and on payment of compensation.

I ask all my readers, regardless of where they live, to please register their disapproval by emailing Mr Quinn here, and let him know how unacceptable this proposal is.