In 2016, Ireland came closer than it ever had to dealing honestly with religion in schools. The proposed Education about Religions and Beliefs curriculum, ERB, was not radical or anti-faith. It did not seek to replace religious instruction. It simply acknowledged reality: Irish classrooms had changed.
ERB was designed to allow children to learn about religions and beliefs rather than be instructed in one. It reflected the lived experience of schools where children from multiple faiths and none were already learning together. The consultation was thorough, the educational rationale was strong, and support from teachers and principals was clear.
And then it quietly died.
The Catholic Church made it clear that it would not accept a curriculum that diluted its control over religious instruction in Catholic schools. Given that Catholic patrons still controlled the vast majority of primary schools, the outcome was predictable. The NCCA stepped back. ERB was not formally rejected, just parked.
In 2026, we can see attempts to repackage ERB as Religions, Beliefs and Worldviews quietly shoehorned into SEE, under history and geography. This makes a mockery of what ERB was meant to be. Belief, identity and ethics were reduced to facts to be observed, safely neutralised and stripped of meaning. The plan is supposed to be that children would learn about religions in the same way they learn about rivers.
This sleight of hand allows everyone to claim progress. The State can say ERB exists. Patrons can say nothing has changed. Schools are left navigating deep questions of belief through a subject never designed to carry them.