passport a spokesman saidfor others it is an anachronism a reminder of more homogeneously and observantly christian timesrte said in a statement that recent polling revealed 68 percent of the public favoured keeping it on the airhowever the angelus issue is regularly rehashed in the forums of public debate social media newspaper letter pages and competing broadcast showsin the main it is cited as a proxy for a wider issue the looming historic role the statesanctioned church has held in irish societyas ireland opens up to a growing reckoning with the role of the church the sound of the bells ring with ever greater significancein 2018 irish times columnist laura kennedy said the friction was palpable hearing the bells broadcast after news of the historic vote to overturn the abortion banas always there were the angelus bells she wrote reminding us all of an ireland that no longer exists in anything but theory but that we are still paying for