The Social Democrats today called for a Yes vote in next week’s referendum to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Constitution on the grounds that it is outdated, obsolete and unnecessary.
“The removal of the offence of blasphemy is yet one more step along the way to the full separation of Church and State.”
The Social Democrats today called for a Yes vote in next week’s referendum to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Constitution on the grounds that it is outdated, obsolete and unnecessary.
The party’s co-leader Róisín Shortall TD said:
“It may have passed many people by that a referendum on the issue of removing blasphemy from the Constitution will take place on the same day as the Presidential election, 26th October. We are calling for a ‘yes’ vote to remove the provision from Article 40.6 of the Constitution which makes blasphemy an offence.
“The Social Democrats strongly believe that the offence of blasphemy is archaic, obsolete, and unnecessary. It fundamentally offends the principle of freedom of speech, damages our international reputation – and in any case offers little protection for genuine cases of deliberate incitement to hatred.
“Last year, the Social Democrats brought forward two separate pieces of legislation – to both provide for a referendum to repeal the blasphemy provision in the Constitution and to remove the offence of blasphemy from our laws.”
Party co-leader Catherine Murphy added:
“Blasphemy is a concept that has no place in the Constitution of a country where freedom of speech is respected and freedom of religious expression is guaranteed.
“Recent successful referendums for Marriage Equality and Repeal have shown an appetite among Irish voters to rid our Constitution of outdated and harmful provisions that run contrary to the principles of a modern republic. The removal of the offence of blasphemy is yet one more step along the way to the full separation of Church and State.”
ENDS
20th October 2018