David Norris (Independent)

The Minister spoke about the urgent necessity for fixing this because there had been a case some time ago on blasphemy that was rather unusual and unlikely to be repeated. I do not believe the judges in that case directed the Oireachtas to make the changes the Minister is talking about. Even if they did, it is clear from a study of the record that this and many other Ministers have blithely ignored clear instructions from the High Court and the Supreme Court that legislation ought to be looked at and introduced to fill lacunae in the law. If I am correct, the X case is a glaring example of that but it is a hot potato and they do not want to touch it so they retreated into this notion of blasphemy.