Rice: No place for religious worship at council meetings

Councillor Padraig Rice has lodged a motion for today’s council meeting calling for an end to the practice of saying a prayer before every meeting and the removal of the crucifix from the chamber.

Mr Rice explained: “There is a time and place for religious worship, and I don’t think it is at council meetings.

“The people who elected us come from all faiths and none. Therefore, it is deeply inappropriate to open our meetings with a prayer.”

He continued: “There is currently a large crucifix in the Council chamber. I think it should be removed. Having symbols of one faith and none from all the others sends out a signal.

“Our City should be about inclusion and not exclusion — we need to create a modern, pluralist republic of equals with a clear separation of church and state.”

He cited census figures from 2022 which saw huge increases in the number of people saying they were not religious.

“In 1972, the people voted to remove the ‘special position of the Catholic church’ from the Constitution,” he said, adding, “That seems to have been ignored by Cork City Council. With the prayer and the crucifix, it still feels like 1930s Ireland in there.

“As a new councillor and as the first Social Democrat on the city council, I feel a sense of duty to pursue a modernisation agenda. This is just one part of that.”