Catholic Church and Social Policy

Question 1

How did the catholic church affect education?

Answer 1

• Education delivered by Catholic Church since 1831
• Hedge Schools (as a result of the Penal Laws), led to founding National Schools in 1831
• Edmund Ignatius Rice founded both Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers
• Resistance from certain religious congregations so that, by the mid-
  nineteenth century, what had been established as a non-denominational system had become denominational.

Question 1

How did the church impact the role of the state?

Answer 1

The role of the state was to keep out of the way of private enterprise and keep taxation as low as possible and therefore, at least in the short term, social services as meagre as possible.

Question 2

What was the Stanley Letter?

Answer 2

• Edward Stanley, Chief Secretary for Ireland, aimed to provide a non-denominational mixed education for Catholic and Protestant children
• ‘one of the main objects must be to unite in one system children of different creeds’
• The ‘fundamental principle’ of the Stanley Letter was ‘separate religious and secular moral instruction

Question 3

How did the Catholic Church affect the Health System?

Answer 3

• The first professional nurses in Ireland were Catholic nuns
• The Mercy Order, Worked for free in workhouse hospitals
• Later, they were educated by religious orders, so there were very few trained, qualified nurses at the beginning of the 20th century who were not affiliated with a religious order

Question 4

Who was Noel Browne

Answer 4

• Doctor, T.D. and Minister for Health
• Had a radical social vision for Ireland.
• 1948 enacted healthcare reforms
• Mass free screening for TB, built new sanatoria and hospitals.
• Came into conflict with the Catholic Church and the medical profession because of his proposed Mother and Child Scheme

Question 5

What was the Mother and Child scheme?

Answer 5

-Introduced under the 1947 Health Act
- Free healthcare for mothers and their children (up to 16)
No means-test requirement
- Most private practice doctors opposed the scheme
- Reduction in fees
-Church was against ‘socialized medicine’
- That it would interfere with parental rights and could
introduce contraception
Browne seen as a ‘Trinity Catholic’

Question 6

CENSORSHIP & MORAL REGULATION(Film)

Answer 6

• Censorship of Films Act, 1923, signalled the state’s moral intent, requiring the censor to decide whether a film was “indecent, obscene or blasphemous” or “subversive of public morality
• Anything that depicted scenes or a story that went against Christian teaching
• Abortion, contraception, sex before marriage, homosexuality, etc

Question 7

CENSORSHIP & MORAL REGULATION(Literature)

Answer 7

Committee on Evil Literature was established to report “whether it is necessary or advisable in the interest of the public morality to extend the existing powers of the State to prohibit or restrict the sale and circulation of printed matter“ Only lasted until 1926
* Censorship of Publications Board established in 1929
1942- The Tailor and Ansty
* 2013 – ‘The Raped Little Runaway

Question 8

Moral Regulation

Answer 8

• Intoxicating Liquor Act 1924 reduced public house opening hours and the number of public houses
• Intoxicating Liquor Act 1927 the Holy Hour/ Good Friday Ban
• 1925 Ban on Divorce (had been available under Constitution of 1922
  In the 80s, Mainstreaming of the equality discourse (Galligan, 1998) with increasing acceptance of moderate feminist demands around equal treatment
• Targeted activism on reproductive rights, divorce and violence against women

Question 9

Abortion Referendum

Answer 9

1983 - Abortion referendum: Referendum was called after the death of Sheila Hodgers
* 8th Amendment was added to the Constitution
* 66.9% IN FAVOUR
* 1985 - Kerry Babies Tribunal
* Joanne Hayes

Question 10

Divorce Referendum

Answer 10

1986 – Divorce Referendum
* Bill brought by Mervyn Taylor (Labour Party) in 1985 (defeated in Dáil Éireann in by 54 votes to 33)
* 1986 then Minister for Justice Michael Noonan introduced a new Bill
* Referendum failed: Yes - 36.5% No – 63.5%
1995, the government proposed a new amendment to allow for divorce in specified circumstances:
* A Court designated by law may grant a dissolution of marriage where, but only where, it is satisfied that –
I. The spouses lived apart for at least four of last five years
II. no prospect of reconciliation
III. Provisions in place for children and spouses
* Passed by 50.28%