Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the passing of this Bill. It arose as a result of the significant vote by the public to remove blasphemy from the Constitution. That is why the amendments are contained within this Bill. As I and the Minister have said previously, just because we are removing the act of blasphemy from the Constitution does not mean we are becoming an irreligious society or that we regard religion as something that can be easily attacked by any person. That is not the purpose of the legislation. It is to bring our laws up to date in order that we do not have archaic and anachronistic offences on our Statute Book when in fact they are never being used. For that reason I support the Bill.

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