Blasphemous libel

[hiawatha]

Crime of blasphemous libel proposed for Defamation Bill


CAROL COULTER, Legal Affairs Editor

A NEW crime of blasphemous libel is to be proposed by the Minister for Justice in an amendment to the Defamation Bill, which will be discussed by the Oireachtas committee on justice today.

At the moment there is no crime of blasphemy on the statute books, though it is prohibited by the Constitution.

Article 40 of the Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of speech, qualifies it by stating: “The State shall endeavour to ensure that organs of public opinion, such as the radio, the press, the cinema, while preserving their rightful liberty of expression, including criticism of Government policy, shall not be used to undermine public order or morality or the authority of the State.

“The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent material is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law.”

Last year the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, under the chairmanship of Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ardagh, recommended amending this Article to remove all references to sedition and blasphemy, and redrafting the Article along the lines of article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which deals with freedom of expression.

The prohibition on blasphemy dates back to English law aimed at protecting the established church, the Church of England, from attack. It has been used relatively recently to prosecute satirical publications in the UK.

In the only Irish case taken under this article, Corway -v- Independent Newspapers, in 1999, the Supreme Court concluded that it was impossible to say “of what the offence of blasphemy consists”.

It also stated that a special protection for Christianity was incompatible with the religious equality provisions of Article 44.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern proposes to insert a new section into the Defamation Bill, stating: “A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €100,000.”

“Blasphemous matter” is defined as matter “that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion; and he or she intends, by the publication of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.”

Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section, the court may issue a warrant authorising the Garda Síochána to enter, if necessary using reasonable force, a premises where the member of the force has reasonable grounds for believing there are copies of the blasphemous statements in order to seize them.

Labour spokesman on justice Pat Rabbitte is proposing an amendment to this section which would reduce the maximum fine to €1,000 and exclude from the definition of blasphemy any matter that had any literary, artistic, social or academic merit.

Link

So what do ye think?

How the hell am I supposed to bait religious types with my pamphlets and ironic t-shirts?

 

[mrbobdobalina]

Ian O'Doherty will be in trouble ...

 

[hiawatha]

Ian O'Doherty will be in trouble ...

I suppose every cloud has a silver lining.

 

[Smeggle]

Theres 50% of Tommy Tiernans act fuct then so....

 

[Closer80]

Utter bullshit, they can decide the terms.

This country is reverting to it's stone age past.

 

[thread_killer]

Gotta love legal evolution. Why are we still using a law originally written by English people to protect the Church of England from attacks? They should be as open to attack as members of the non-church of everywhere the fuck else.

Seems to me to be at odds with the 44th Article on the religious equality provisions.

Better to update said article to the religious, non-religious and anti-religious equality provisions.

I find religion abusive and insulting in relation to matters I refuse to hold sacred.

Why should religious types be allowed to bate me with their religious pamphlets?

The politician is only trying to win favour and votes with certain groups of peoples. You can't onboard anything they say on matters like this. Their views are tainted as fuck.

I swear, another few years of this cunting shit and I will actually start to fear for my life. These fucks. Who the fuck proposed this shit? They should all be crucified and burned ... erm ... no, wait ... what?

 

[jehearhaar]

Hit the target again! This bloody government will try any tactic to avoid the main issues and people consistently take the bait.

The whole of the 'Liveline' prog on radio 1 was devoted to this STUPID topic. The wigs haven't even been able to define what constitutes blasphemy.

This - as we're heading for half a million unemployed!!!!!!:crazyeye:

UNfcknBELIEVABLE

 

[Closer80]

This - as we're heading for half a million unemployed!!!!!!:crazyeye:

UNfcknBELIEVABLE

But whatever you do, don't say anything bad about Jeeesus...


...


It's diversionary bullshit :/

 

[Pocahantis]

Holy Mother of Fuck, this goverment is a right punch of pharasees

 

[thread_killer]

I'll just leave this here

Should be here.

Unemployment Soars

The numbers signing-on almost doubled in the last year marking the biggest annual rise on record with 11.4% of the workforce now unemployed.

As the ESRI worryingly predicted the jobless rate would hit 17% next year, Cowen described it as an unfortunate by-product of a crumbling economy.

In the context of an economy that is contracting by 8% this year, of course, unfortunately, unemployment will be growing.

Yes, there are more than 380,000 unemployed but every one is one too many as far as I am concerned.

While on average 1,000 jobs were being slashed every day in January and February, that figure dropped to about 500 a day in March and dipped slightly again in April. However, despite the fall-off, a massive 13,177 extra people signed on last month.

The recent Budget and Government inaction has indicated an unwillingness to address the ongoing problem, which continues to deteriorate. What is required is less Government bickering and more Government action to address the biggest economic crisis since the State’s foundation.

Do you still believe that the economic crisis is nothing to do with you, that it is something that has appeared like the Mexican swine flu, out of the blue and nothing to do with how the Government puffed the property bubble?

More and more people are losing their jobs, more and more businesses are going to the wall while you and your Government are just stuck like the rabbit in the headlights, absolutely frozen and unable to act.

Everybody is saying that your Government who led us into this cannot lead us out of it. The Green Party is saying it and more and more people are saying it in your own Government.

While today’s figures were somewhat better than we had expected, it is important to not lose sight of the fact that the numbers signing on will continue to rise in coming months, as job losses in the services sector, most notably in wholesale and retail and hotels and restaurants, are ongoing.

Today’s figures show unemployment will continue to be a major problem this year and next, but they also indicate that some of the extreme unemployment forecast of late may be unduly pessimistic.