Dublin, 3 November 2013
Press release for immediate release
Ireland’s human rights watchdog, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has warmly welcomed the strong recommendation of the Convention on the Constitution today (Sunday, 3 November 2013) that the offence of blasphemy should be removed from the Constitution, and that Ireland’s outmoded legislation on blasphemy should be replaced by modern provisions on incitement to hatred.
The ICCL appeared before the Convention on the Constitution yesterday and pointed out that Ireland’s existing blasphemy provisions are a “domestic irrelevance and an international embarrassment”.
In a series of votes today, the Convention voted by 61% to 38% (with 1% undecided) that the reference to the offence of blasphemy in the Constitution should be changed, with a massive majority considering that it should be either removed altogether (38%) or replaced with a new provision framed as incitement to hatred (53%). A slimmer majority (50% to 49%) favoured the complete abolition of legislation in this area, and there was a landslide vote of 82% in favour of replacing existing legislative blasphemy provisions with modern law on incitement to hatred.
Reacting to the vote, ICCL Director Mr Mark Kelly said:
“The Convention on the Constitution has signaled clearly that the end is nigh for Ireland’s antediluvian blasphemy laws. The ICCL is very encouraged that such a massive majority of Convention members (82%) have favoured the replacement of these outmoded provisions with a modern legal framework on incitement to hatred.”
“The ICCL trusts that the Government will heed the Convention’s call and introduce comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation to effectively combat incitement to hatred, as well as to empower minorities and vulnerable groups”
ENDS
Walter Jayawardene
Communications Manager
Irish Council for Civil Liberties
Tel. + 353 1 799 4503
Mob: +353 87 9981574
Fax. + 353 1 799 4512
E-mail walter.jayawardene@iccl.ie