By JENNIFER O'LEARY - BBC NEWS
Added: Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:12:46 UTC

It is the second Sunday after Christmas, and among those attending Catholic mass in the Pro Cathedral in Dublin city centre is the former Irish president, Mary McAleese.

Her successor, President Michael D Higgins, has previously described himself as 'spiritual', rather than religious.

Irish President Michael D Higgins describes himself as spiritual rather than religious

In any case, the Irish Constitution requires the president on taking office to take a religious oath. And that, say critics, translates as "atheists need not apply".

"We need a secular constitution. Currently our constitution starts off by saying that all authority comes from the Holy Trinity," said Michael Nugent, of Atheist Ireland.

"We want an education system that teaches children objectively about the different religious beliefs and non-religious beliefs that exist

"There's also a lot of what I would call 'religious background noise' in the relationship between Church and State, even down to trivial things such as the angelus being played every day on our national broadcaster."

Constitutional reform is on the Irish Government's agenda, as Labour Party Senator Ivana Bacik explains.

"The reality of modern Ireland is that it has become a much more pluralist and a much more inclusive modern society, where we are no longer the homogenous 99% Catholic society we once were," she said.

A constitutional convention is due to review the Republic's constitutional text in the coming months.

"The convention is not an attempt to secularise society or to undermine anyone's religious belief or faith, it's simply to identify are there any aspects of the constitution that are out of date with modern life?" said Senator Bacik.

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TAGGED: RELIGION, SECULARISM, SOCIETY