DMB
29 Apr 2009, 10:08 AM
Following on from concerns about all those UN resolutions against "defamation of religion", can somebody please tell us what is behind this stuff in Ireland?
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/0429/1224245599892.html
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...
...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.
When the UK blasphemy law was so recently repealed, after a century and a half of struggle and campaigning, this looks pretty retrograde. I am particularly concerned about the bit I have emboldened. Will the adherents of the Flying Spaghetti Monster cult be able to invoke this? Or what do they mean by "a substantial number of the adherents of that religion"? Would they discriminate against minor religions?
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/0429/1224245599892.html
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...
...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.
When the UK blasphemy law was so recently repealed, after a century and a half of struggle and campaigning, this looks pretty retrograde. I am particularly concerned about the bit I have emboldened. Will the adherents of the Flying Spaghetti Monster cult be able to invoke this? Or what do they mean by "a substantial number of the adherents of that religion"? Would they discriminate against minor religions?