Results 1-13 of 13 for blasphemy speaker:Eugene Regan

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Nov 2010)

Eugene Regan: ...il was a slightly constitutional party and once again the party lives up to its slightly constitutional reputation. On the one hand it says it has a constitutional imperative to introduce a law on blasphemy which nobody wanted and yet at the same time it could subvert the Constitution and the democratic process by refusing to hold by-elections which everybody wanted. The Green Party has...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2009)

Eugene Regan: ...Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, which dealt with firearms, the European arrest warrant and the Schengen information system. Another was the Defamation Act, containing the infamous blasphemy provisions. As Bills these were rushed through, particularly the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, on the basis that they were needed as a matter of urgency. These and...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2009)

Eugene Regan: Hiding behind those numbers, they abstained on this legislation. Contrast this with the statement of Senator Dan Boyle last week on the Defamation Bill and blasphemy law, which he said was archaic and should be made obsolete.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Jul 2009)

Eugene Regan: ...and that, in setting out the procedure, it does not care what amendments are tabled. The Green Party is acquiescing in this and acquiesced in supporting the legislation on the medieval offence of blasphemy. Last week, Mr. Jason O'Mahony's blog stated that Senator de Búrca put on record during her European election campaign that she and the Green Party are against the legislation on...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2009)

Eugene Regan: ..., rather than the courts, to define the offence. That is the issue. This offence was abolished in the United Kingdom following the 2007 case of Green v. City of Westminster. The claim of blasphemy in that case, which concerned a screening of "Jerry Springer: The Opera", was rejected. It is worth quoting what the former UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Baroness Andrews, said in...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2009)

Eugene Regan: ...to do nothing. He says this is the only realistic approach to take on this. He says there is no alternative. We can look at that alternative because the whole sense and purpose of the issue of blasphemy and the way it is interpreted in other member states of the European Union, in the United Nations and in international law is to the effect that it is the issue of offending,...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2009)

Eugene Regan: I find the response of the Minister unconvincing. He referred to my presentation on outlining the positions in relation on this whole issue of blasphemy in other EU member states, the United Nations and the Holy See, and how it is generally interpreted and applied as being offensive to the followers of a particular religion, giving rise to civil unrest or other implications. That is the...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2009)

Eugene Regan: We define blasphemy.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2009)

Eugene Regan: ...of the change emerged. I proposed a variation of this to the Minister which would take cognisance of the suggestion he makes that we have an obligation to make some provision for the offence of blasphemy, that is, to define that defence in the context of the legislation on incitement to hatred. My proposal was that the offence provided for under section 2 of the Prohibition of Incitement...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2009)

Eugene Regan: The Minister has suggested we need to define the crime of blasphemy, which is an anachronism in itself. I have suggested a formula in this verbal amendment which would avoid the nonsense of the amendments the Minister has put in the Bill, which is the reason the House is so exercised, as was the Dáil. I ask the Cathaoirleach to allow this verbal amendment to be considered by the House.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2009)

Eugene Regan: This aspect of the Defamation Bill, namely, blasphemy was not in the Bill that was initiated in this House. We never had the opportunity to debate and discuss the matter until today. It was tabled as an amendment to the Bill as passed by the Seanad by the Minister in the Dáil. The debate in the Dáil was guillotined, so there was no debate on this matter in the Dáil. As we are rushing...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2009)

Eugene Regan: ...of legislation, whether instigated here or in the Dáil and that has been demonstrated today. The closeness of the vote might reflect the outrage at the formulation, method and provisions on blasphemy the Minister has brought to this Bill.

Seanad: Enforcement of Court Orders (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (7 Jul 2009)

Eugene Regan: ...situation. It is very regrettable. There is a necessity for the Minister to rethink this. There is a legal and constitutional obligation on him. This is the same Minister who insists on having a blasphemy offence because it is required by the Constitution. Here, a High Court judge, in a judgment which is not being appealed, has set out in express terms the constitutional problems with...