Sir, – Regarding school patronage, the usual riposte to those of us who have a problem with the status quo is that the vast majority of people in this country are Catholic.
It is a logical fallacy to contend that just because the majority of people in Ireland are Catholic that they therefore support a de facto monopoly of school patronage by the Catholic Church and school admission policies that discriminate against children on the grounds of religion.
When will people realise that this is not about the majority? It’s about the minority. The health of a society can be judged by how it treats its minorities.
It’s also a matter of individual freedoms – freedom of conscience, freedom of thought and freedom of religion (including freedom from religion).
These individual rights run to the very heart of what a republic is supposed to be, ideals that should be protected from arguments based on contrived majoritarianism. – Yours, etc,
ROB SADLIER,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.