Sir, – In light of Eamon Gilmore, an agnostic, being required to pledge an oath "in the presence of Almighty God" in order to take his seat on the Council of State (Home News, July 27th), I think it's about time we discuss the removal of these explicitly religious, exclusionary references from Bunreacht na hÉireann.
Public representatives are rightly lambasted if they are discovered to be dishonest, yet, in order to become a judge, president, or, as the tánaiste has discovered, to sit on the Council of State, those of us who do not have a religious faith are constitutionally required to perjure ourselves.
There can be surely no reasonable case made for the retention of religious oaths in a modern, democratic country – they are unjust, discriminatory, and archaic – so for the sake of efficiency, let us bypass the hysteria and faux outrage, bundle them all together and, with the referendum on Seanad abolition, allow the public to vote on their removal. – Yours, etc,
DAVID McGINN,
Mountain Park,
Tallaght, Dublin 24.