In politics, he was both a Whig and a supporter of Catholic Emancipation and other Roman Catholic causes, which brought him into conflict with many members of his class in Ireland.
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In 1815 the parliamentary sketch-writer Thomas Barnes wrote of Mathew that he showed "...all the characteristic fervour of his countrymen in favour of the cause of the Catholics, but at the same time evinces a blindness of blundering greater than even foolish illiberality ever ascribed to his nation".
For instance the Health (Family Planning) Act, 1979 showed the ability of the Catholic Church to force the government into a compromise situation over artificial contraception, though unable to get the result it wanted; contraception could now be bought, but only with a prescription from a doctor and supplied only by registered chemists.
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These include the Ferns Report and the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, and have led on to much discussion in Ireland about what changes may be needed in the future within the church.
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An unbroken tradition since ancient times is of annual pilgrimages to sacred Celtic Christian places such as St Patrick's Purgatory and Croagh Patrick.
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Its main claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Seán Brady, the current Archbishop of Armagh and head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.