Results 1-12 of 12 for blasphemy speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Second Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...or noted before we give it the nod through the House. One of the most cogent arguments for its adoption is the fact that legislatures across the world point to Ireland as a reason to have blasphemy laws in their jurisdictions which are much more severe in terms of consequences for ordinary individuals. I am a liberal and have no problem with people mocking the religious views of others...

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Second Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Government, perhaps with a view to ushering through the blasphemy referendum, failed to carefully consider the remainder of the Constitution. As Senators know, Article 44 was amended to remove the special position of the Roman Catholic Church and references to various other denominations, including the Jewish denomination. The inclusion of the reference to the latter domination was...

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Second Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...view - I say this very carefully - is that the failure of many prominent people in Islam to distance themselves from the death penalties being handed down in certain countries to Christians accused of blasphemy is a black mark against those people, whether they reside in Ireland or elsewhere. I do not intend to oppose the Bill. I emphasise, however, that in getting rid of what is in the...

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...its passage and that it needs to be supported in the circumstances I outlined. Senator Bacik raised the issue of whether the inclusion in the Defamation Act of the two sections dealing with blasphemy was necessary. I wish to remind the House that I brought forward a Bill in 2006 or 2007 which did not include such sections. As then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I was of...

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: If blasphemy was worthy of removal from the Constitution on the grounds of vagueness, indecency was certainly not something which could be criminalised on the same basis. I completely agree with Senator Bacik on that point. I agree with the remarks of the Minister of State regarding the conflation of religion and other political agendas. There is an entity named the National Party which...

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: I wish to make clear that I do not believe the Defamation Act should have included the blasphemy provisions. When I was Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I acted according to that view.

Seanad: Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution (Repeal of offence of publication or utterance of blasphemous matter) Bill 2018: Second Stage - An Bille um an Seachtú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Cion a aisghairm arb éard é ní diamhaslach a fhoilsiú nó a aithris) 2018: An Dara Céim (20 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...if the right of the State to protect public morality is taken into account? I approach this from a liberal perspective but I wonder why, in the terms of the Constitution, the criminalisation of blasphemy, indecency and sedition were expressly inserted by the sentence and paragraph with which we are dealing. They were expressly inserted as a qualification of the right to free speech. I...

Seanad: Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution (Repeal of offence of publication or utterance of blasphemous matter) Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages - An Bille um an Seachtú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Cion a aisghairm arb éard é ní diamhaslach a fhoilsiú nó a aithris) 2018: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha (20 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: I wanted to discuss this further, however. The Minister of State indicated in his speech that he intends to repeal the criminalisation of blasphemy. I should say that when I introduced a Bill to replace the Defamation Act 1961 I, as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, included nothing in respect of blasphemy, although I understand that a subsequent Attorney General was of the...

Seanad: Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution (Repeal of offence of publication or utterance of blasphemous matter) Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages - An Bille um an Seachtú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Cion a aisghairm arb éard é ní diamhaslach a fhoilsiú nó a aithris) 2018: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha (20 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...what is said or done, nobody can be punished. I do not think that most people are aware that the Government proposes not merely to remove from the Constitution the obligation to criminalise blasphemy, but that it also intends to declare it absolutely open season to say or do anything in public which outrages religious sentiment without any sanction of any kind whatsoever. I do not think...

Seanad: Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution (Repeal of offence of publication or utterance of blasphemous matter) Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages - An Bille um an Seachtú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Cion a aisghairm arb éard é ní diamhaslach a fhoilsiú nó a aithris) 2018: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha (20 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: I want to make a few observations. Indecency is as flexible a concept as blasphemy. There were times when people who doubted and publicly refuted the biblical explanation of the garden of Eden and the story of Adam and Eve were accused of blasphemy. Obviously blasphemy as a concept is one which has changed with the passage of time, as has indecency. There is no doubt about that. The mere...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Second Stage (6 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: ...is provided. The current Circuit Court limit for damages claims is €38,092. Provision is made for the abolition of the common law offences of criminal, seditious and obscene libel. The issue of blasphemy is under consideration by the Oireachtas All-Party Committee on the Constitution. I am inclined to the view that the committee is well placed to reflect the range and depth of opinion...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (14 Feb 2006)

Michael McDowell: Article 40.6.1(i) of the Constitution provides for the offence of blasphemy. In addition, section 13 of the Defamation Act 1961 provides penalties for the offence. However, as noted by the Supreme Court in the case of Corway v. Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Limited [1999] 4IR 484, no definition of the offence of blasphemy exists in Irish law. The position on this constitutional offence has...