Dublin Airport Authority has said that it is “currently working on a new approach” to facilitate the blessing of planes at Dublin Airport, just days after it emerged that the 75-year-long tradition had come to an end.
DAA, the company which owns and operates Dublin Airport, was responding after Gript Media reported that secular campaigner, John Hamill, formerly of Atheist Ireland, had requested the right to hold a non-religious blessing at the airport. A spokesperson for DAA said that DAA is “currently working on a new approach to facilitate the traditional Christmas blessing of the planes,” and that once details are available, they will be announced “later in the year.”
As this publication reported this week, the 75-year-long tradition, which sees a Catholic priest attend the airport on Christmas day, when no planes take off or land at the airport, to bless all planes, will not take place this year.
Campaigner Mr Hamill told Gript that the airport’s chaplain “has been informed that he won’t be allowed back,” while saying he never wanted the event to be stopped.
“Needless to say, we never requested or wanted the event to be cancelled, only that we could be allowed to participate. Seems a shame,” Mr Hamill said.
“It demonstrates how terrified the public bodies are about anything to do with religiosity, now ditching a 75 year tradition to avoid explaining,” the campaigner added.
DAA, which also owns and operates Cork airport, denied that the decision to abandon the annual blessing of the planes came about due to Mr Hamill’s communication with Ireland’s biggest airport, but was instead due to a change in security regulations.
The move prompted widespread attention and criticism, including from Deputy Michael Collins.
Cork TD Collins, Head of Independent Ireland, told Gript that he was “disappointed” in Dublin Airport, as he called on them to reverse the decision.
“I am very disappointed. The blessing of the planes is an important tradition, as is people blessing their homes. It’s a very old but loving tradition of Irish people, and we feel our homes and oue property is safe once it’s blessed. I feel this is a very small thing for Dublin Airport and DAA to allow to happen.
“It can happen in a safe environment, and it always has. There is no issue there. I am certainly very disappointed with Dublin Airport regarding the decision they’ve made, and it seems like it’s another typical move away from Irish tradition. This is something we are seeing as Irish people, bit by bit,” the TD said.
“I can guarantee you if there was a poll done, 70 to 80 per cent of Irish people would see no harm whatsoever in continuing the traditional blessing. I would ask the Dublin Airport Authority to review their position. This is not a real health and safety concern. There is clearly another reason for this, and in my opinion, the airport are not being straight up about this.”
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for DAA, operator of Dublin Airport, said: “Due to recent changes to security protocols, airside access is now restricted to airport operations only…For this reason, non-operational activities can no longer be facilitated airside.”
Their spokesperson added that the decision to stop the blessing had “nothing whatsoever to do with a secular request” but had rather occurred due to “a change of security regulations.”
While the move has been the source of backlash, it has also been welcomed by some secular campaigners.
Taking to X, Dara Hogan, a Board Member of the Humanist Association of Ireland, said that he was “delighted” to see the development, adding: “We must do more to separate church from state.”
Delighted to see that Dublin Airport has abandoned its annual Christmas tradition of allowing a Catholic priest to bless the planes after John Hamill (formerly of Atheist Ireland) requested the right to hold a non-religious blessing. We must do more to separate church from state.
— Dara Hogan (@DaraHogan) April 4, 2024
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What are they going to do, have an lgbtq trans day of visibility…. clowns. How about they do something really constructive and police the bloody airport for illegal scammers and deport them. Yunno, something that is actually beneficial other than paganism.
Again a very small minority, in this case a minority of one, ruling the majority but then again they’ve been given that power of abuse for years. Why aren’t Irish people consulted on these issues?
Ha! You want yet another useless (but expensive) referendum on something that people do not actually care about? Could you find five people who knew priests blessed planes on Christmas day before this (non-)story hit the press? I couldn’t.
I’m an atheist. That’s my business. I don’t believe in God.
Yet, last year back at my brother’s house – the family home I grew up in. Brother persuaded me to go to mass with him. He handed me the leads for his three dogs, the two cats were in their carriers and off we walked to church.
As I entered the church it was full of people and their pets. It was the annual Sunday blessing of pets and animals. Something I’d loved as a child but had completely forgotten about over the years.
The noise, the not unpleasant smell, the occasional fight, the hissing of cats. After mass, the priest moved outside to bless the bigger farm animals. Outside were bulls, pigs, cows, calves and other living creatures waiting to be blessed. All creatures great and small.
Flasks of whiskey and tea and tart were passed around. What an exceptionally enjoyable morning. Talking and laughing with people I known in my childhood and haven’t met since. My amazement that some folk were still alive.
I noticed a few of our Protestant neighbours in attendance.
The animal blessing of pets and animals is a very old tradition and brings the locals of all religious backgrounds together.
The blessing – I ask where’s the harm!
The receding of religious belief has left a huge vacuum in our lives that’s now being filled by the hard left and their ideology. Pushing an agenda that most of us don’t agree with nor want.
I think I now consider myself a Christian atheist.
Where’s the harm?
Oh that is just wonderful and heartwarming.
I forgot to mention it was October in honour of St. Francis of Assisi.
The DAA changed their security rules to cut out the priest giving a blessing. That’s obvious. It may have been caused by wokes within the DAA or campaigners. The priest should bless the plane alone, as the tradition has always been. It should not be associated with campaigning secularists or atheists. Secularism opposes the Catholic religion. The shrill demands of the secularists has resulted in the removal of religious statues and emblems in our schools and hospitals. One has seen it in St. Vincent’s hospital. There was a rush to remove religious statues, to comply with the secularists’ demands. Religious emblems bring comfort to many patients in our hospitals and should be restored. The secularists are an aggressive campaigning, bigoted group. When I listened to big bigot RTÉ, they were running an anti-Catholic campaign, by keeping the mother and baby homes rant going. Girls went there to have their babies adopted but RTÉ’s claim is that they were stolen by nuns there. The men who got them pregnant deserted them and that’s why they chose adoption, but RTÉ never mention a man. RTÉ got found out and was brought to its knees. Dublin airport will be without a blessing of planes this Christmas, due to wokes. They are big, big trouble.
In place of a Blessing, Dublin Airport has brought a curse on itself.
A sacrificial offering is required to appease the Gods,preferably a human sacrifice ,
Ireland has a surfeit of suitable candidates available from the political.Media and NGO sectors ,who are surplus to requirements.
Why are these security rules being changed now? If it was in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, I could understand it, but this stinks of gaslighting.
Humanist groups are obsessed with Christianity. Have a look at any relevant websites and most articles are criticisms of Christianity. They serve no other purpose.
If the hate speech bill gets passed it will be intetesting to see if Hamill is investigated for anti catholic activity.
No he won’t. However, if he criticises Islam, they’ll have him locked up before you can say the word “atheist”.
Try looking at some of those websites yourself, you might learn something. Humanists don’t care what supernatural beliefs you hold. As far as we are concerned, belief in one or more gods is as relevant and meaningful as belief in Santa or the tooth fairy.
Irish Pagans are Looking for every chance to to attack Christians
There is a difference between Pagans and Atheists .Paganism is an old religion in itself,which worships Nature.
Is it possible to be a Christian atheist pagan. I think that description suits me.
Interesting….
I would have thought that protecting aircraft against diabolic incursion would be a security matter….
But..y’know…atheists…. have it your way…
Until the Big Sep….
😂
I’m disgusted at this! Some Irish are hell-bent in getting rid of every trace of Christianity. Marriage, right to life, crosses, blessings, religion in schools…..As a country we have completely lost the plot, all because of the hatred towards Christianity, but saying that the church are to blame as well. They should never have covered up the abuse of minors. In my local church two weeks ago a lesbian ‘couple’ had their child baptized. This should never have been allowed happen. I emailed the local bishop looking for an explanation as to why that was allowed to happen. No response yet. Weak men destroy countries and weak men have destroyed the church.
Are you sure you are a Christian? You don’t sound like someone who believes in the teachings of Christ. By your standards, Christ was what you would call a weak man. He loved his all his neighbours, including the sinners, something you appear unable to do. You would deny the child a baptism because of the sins of the parents? Get over yourself – and stop calling yourself a Christian.
Lots of comments below talk about a hatred of Christianity. There is no hatred of Christianity or any other religion among the Irish people. There is a strong and very well founded distrust of the Catholic church and its practices in Ireland, especially around its behaviour towards children with those not guilty of abuse themselves being guilty of protecting those who did abuse, but the church is not Christianity despite what they claim. If you want to believe in the supernatural, off you go, just don’t expect others to share your beliefs. I really don’t care if you believe a plane will be safer if blessed priest, rabbi, imam or shaman, but I really hope the pilot doesn’t believe that.