Irish blasphemy law – one step closer to disaster
The Dail Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights voted on 1 July 2009 to make blasphemy illegal in Ireland, carrying a maximum fine of 25,000 Euro. The Bill will now go to the Dail, where it seems the Green Party will have the deciding vote.
The Dail Committee members who voted in favour are
Dermot Ahern (Minister)
Sean Ardagh (substitute)
Bobby Aylward (substitute)
Thomas Byrne
Sean Connick
Brendan Kenneally (chairman)
Darragh O’Brien
Noel Treacy
UPDATE: (17:16) The Irish Times reports that Independent member of the seanad, David Norris, has branded the proposed legislation
a complete farce, a nonsense and an insult to the intelligence of the Irish people
The Bill has been drafted so as to make it virtually impossible to get a successful prosecution under it.
My grandfather was from Connemara, and was a great joker, and I have to say that a law drafted so as to ensure that it would be “virtually impossible to get a successful prosecution out of it” sounds just the sort of thing that he would have thought a really splendid idea!
Doesn’t a ‘Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights’ itself sound like a bit of a farce?
Do they send the army round if someone’s a bigot, or repel foreign invasions with a crack squad of minority rights consultants?
What’s a Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights doing messing around with a blasphemy bill at all? (And why is Defence in with that other lot?) What’s a committee for four secular things doing messing with a blasphemy law?
It’s nuts.
And why would you have to specifically mention Women`s Rights after stating that the committe was dealing with equality, anyway? Sounds just like something from “Monty Python” again!!
The penny`s just dropped – it`s to save money, of course! “Hello, everybody! This here is Mrs O`Leary, the new tea lady. As part of our ongoing cost-cutting measures she will also be doubling as cleaner, chief of police, parking warden, lord chancellor, defence chief, and ambassador to Chile (other duties permitting). Let`s all make her feel at home!” (Women`s Rights” should still be covered by Equality, but we`re talking about Oirland here, aren`t we?)