This week, watching as the Dáil debates on the Criminal Justice and Defamation bills were guillotined, I found myself considering what to do. Writing to my TDs didn’t help. Only one of them replied, and he voted for the bill anyway. So how should I protest? A year ago, a student in Florida received death… Continue reading Crackers
Tag: blasphemy
Any Other Business
It’s going to be an interesting week in Dáil Éireann. Desperate not to cut back on their holiday time,the government has opted instead to cut debating time, and plans to guillotine several bills into law by Friday. Among the highlights: The blasphemy clause in the Defamation bill, making it illegal to say naughty things if… Continue reading Any Other Business
Fixing the Bunreacht
There’s a constitutional amendment scheduled for October, to change our minds about the Lisbon treaty. This is an ideal opportunity for Dermot Ahern. He feels he must make blasphemy a crime, otherwise the people will go through the ‘costly and unwarranted diversion‘ of a referendum. But now he has an ideal chance to tack on… Continue reading Fixing the Bunreacht
Does Dermot Ahern Read Blogs?
Does Dermot Ahern read this blog? On May Day, I wrote here that the justice minister’s proposal to create a criminal offence of blasphemous libel with a fine of up to €100000 was ‘a return to the brilliance that gave us revenue generating innovations like duty free shopping, DIRT tax, the airport departure tax.’ ‘We… Continue reading Does Dermot Ahern Read Blogs?