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Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy has made an order appointing October 26 as the polling day for the referendum on blasphemy.<\/p>\nMinister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy has made an order appointing October 26 as the polling day for the referendum on blasphemy.<\/p>\n
This is the same day as the presidential election.<\/p>\n
The Bill moved through parliament this week following its introduction by Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan in the Dail on Tuesday, where it passed without opposition.<\/p>\n
Mr Flanagan says the move shows Ireland values free speech and embraces multiculturalism.<\/p>\n
The line the minister wants removed from the Constitution is: \u201cThe publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Constitutional amendment seeking to remove the reference of blasphemy from the Constitution passed all stages in the Seanad yesterday.<\/p>\n
The majority of Senators were in favor of the Bill. Independent Senator Ronan Mullen was the only one to express opposition to the referendum, labeling the vote as tokenism.<\/p>\n
He hit out at the proposal as hypocritical, adding that anti-Catholicism is a bizarre version of free speech.<\/p>\n
His suggestion was that the 2009 Defamation Act be amended to remove the offence of blasphemy from Irish law, adding it would reduce the cost of another referendum on taxpayers.<\/p>\n
He claimed the referendum could cost the taxpayer between up to $4.7million (\u20ac4million).<\/p>\n
The last known complaint of blasphemy in Ireland was in 2017, when garda\u00ed were looking into a formal complaint of blasphemy made against Stephen Fry and RTE after the writer\u2019s 2015 appearance on RTE\u2019s religion program The Meaning Of Life.<\/p>\n
The garda\u00ed later said they would not proceed with an investigation as no injured parties had come forward and they were \u201cunable to find a substantial number of outraged people\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Murphy encouraged the public to engage in the referendum, no matter what their belief on the matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever your views are on the proposals in the referendum, can I take this opportunity to encourage voters to go to their polling station during this 15 hour period on 26 October and have your say in the outcome of the referendum\u201d, the minister said.<\/p>\n
He has appointed Barry Ryan, a Principal Officer in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, to be the referendum returning officer for the referendum.<\/p>\n