Peter Casey Peter Casey may have tapped into disaffection gaining some 23% of the voters at the presidential election, but he is decidedly out of touch when it comes to the broadcast of the Angelus on RTÉ.
The station’s exit poll following the election found that 68% of people supported the national broadcaster continuing to broadcast the daily prayer on radio and television.
Notably, support was also strong amongst younger demographics with 61% of 18-24 year olds saying they favoured the retention of the Angelus on RTÉ. When those with no opinion were excluded more than 76% of those polled believed the Angelus should be retained.
Mr Casey, however, appears to believe that the broadcast – which in the past has won support from the Jewish and Islamic communities as well as the Protestant denominations – is out of step with modern Ireland.
Opinion piece
Writing in an opinion piece in the Sunday Independent at the weekend he cited the fact that “today 33% of the people working in Dublin were not born in Ireland and come from many different religions.
“We need to respect their freedom of religion and not impose the Angelus on them,” he said.