Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will not oppose the Bill, but I will make some passing remarks on it because there are certain consequences of its enactment which deserve to be, at least, considered 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 if they so wish. It has been part of society on these islands for a long time. Popery and Protestantism were the subject of mutual abusive remarks for many years at the highest and lowest levels of public discourse. The utterance of words directed at one side or the other through the centuries was not and is not the problem. Senator O'Sullivan pointed out that we may have to look at hate crime in the context of scrapping the laws of blasphemy. For instance, I have no interest in protecting the Book of Mormon from ridicule or satire or according the protection of religion to Scientology, for example, which does not merit any protection in a rational society.