A chara, – Given this week’s census, it is appropriate to ask why a republic needs to know its citizens’ ethnicities and religious beliefs, which are asked in Questions 11 and 12. Why are these questions so important?
France, as a secular republic, is forbidden by law to ask about these matters as the French believe in equality and secularism. Is Ireland, by requiring this information, living up to the words and spirit of the Proclamation of the Republic which declared “The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all of its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally and oblivious of the differences . . .”? If citizens of a republic are meant to be treated equally, why is it necessary to know the ethnicity and religious beliefs of the people? Religion and the State should be separate. Religion is a res priva (a private matter), whereas a census is a res publica (a public matter).
I would call on the State, if it believes in equality, to remove these questions from future censuses. – Is mise,
SEANÁN Ó COISTIN,
Port Gleoráin,
Cill Choca,
Co Chill Dara.