Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Fianna Fáil Party will support this legislation.

On 26 October 2018, citizens voted overwhelmingly - 64.85% - in favour of removing blasphemy from the Constitution. In 2009 the then Fianna Fail Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern, stated that as a republican his personal opinion was that church and State should separate and that he favoured abolishing the offence of blasphemy. However, the economic climate at the time ruled out the proliferation of referenda that we have these days. It is good that it has come to fruition now.

With this Bill, we are putting into effect the wishes of the people. Ireland was just one out of seven countries in Europe where blasphemy was an offence prior to the referendum. The Constitution had provided that the offence of blasphemy was punishable according to law and provided that a person could be liable upon conviction for a maximum fine of €25,000.

Why should we remove blasphemy? Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of democratic society. Any constraints on it must be clear and limited. This is not the case with Article 40. The provision does not protect non-believers and elevates religion over other forms of discrimination. Ireland has changed immensely since the 1937 Constitution was promulgated. The most recent census figures in 2016 show that no religion is the second largest category of respondents after Roman Catholic, accounting for 9.8% of the population.

Autocratic regimes have cited Ireland as an example of blasphemy laws when creating their own stringent limits to freedom of expression. Indonesia is one of several Islamic states which cited Ireland’s blasphemy legislation in support and defence of its own. Irish blasphemy law was cited as an authority in support of Indonesia’s constitutional court decision to uphold its law prohibiting blasphemy in 2010.

We must draw attention to the Government’s failure to legislate against hate crime. Hate crime legislation has the potential to protect deeply-held religious beliefs far more effectively than blasphemy laws ever could. Effective hate crime legislation would ensure that all religious groups are protected from incitement without unduly constraining freedom. In 2016, Fianna Fáil introduced the Criminal Justice (Aggravation by Prejudice) Bill. It has cross-party support and passed Second Stage. It has undergone pre-legislative scrutiny but the Government has not issued a money message pursuant to Article 17.2 of the Constitution. This is needed for the Bill to proceed further. The Republic of Ireland is one of a small minority of EU countries which does not have legislation to deal with hate crime. The Bill’s provisions have been supported by all the eminent relevant bodies, namely, the Law Reform Commission, the Constitution Review Group, the report of the special rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, the report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Constitution, the Venice Commission and the UN Human Rights Committee. The Convention on the Constitution voted 61% in favour of removing blasphemy from the Constitution.They were more ambivalent on legislative provision, with only 50% voting for legislation to protect against incitement to be included. That is something of an anomaly.

All present know of the most celebrated cases in which blasphemy charges were laid. Twelve people were killed in the office of Charlie Hebdoas a result of the publication of a satirical cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad. Stephen Fry did us all a great service when he was interviewed on "The Meaning of Life with Gay Byrne" television programme some years ago. Although it did not convince me, it was the most cogent argument in favour of atheism I have ever seen. Stephen Fry was entitled to make that argument. The frankness with which he addressed the issue was somewhat shocking and I can understand why people of deep belief may have been upset, but that upset pales into insignificance against his right to express that opinion. The programme was a landmark in many ways and he is to be thanked for that.

I could go on, but I think we are all on the one hymn sheet. It is to be hoped that the Government will expedite what needs to be done in regard to hate crime. If it does, we will be with it all the way.