Ed Moloney - Censorship in Ireland and Northern Ireland

The Irish journalist Ed Moloney wrote in the Nieman Reports of Hardvard University here. He started with a brief historical sweep:

"Censorship has a long if not very honorable place in Irish history. The British imposed press controls during the 1919-21 war of independence, as did the pro-Treaty side in the subsequent Irish civil war. Newspapers were forbidden, for instance, to use words like “guerilla” to describe opponents of the new Irish government. Censorship lived on after the early Troubles. In the south of Ireland it took a less political and more religious form. The state censor was allowed to ban books and films on moral grounds, i.e. when they offended Catholic doctrine or values. 

In Northern Ireland censorship remained entirely political. In the 1920’s the pro-British Unionist government passed the Special Powers Act, a draconian piece of legislation which gave the police the authority to ban any dubious expression of political thinking and to imprison those responsible.

Removing Blasphemy from the Irish Constitution

Blasphemy offence is national irrelevance and international embarrassment @ICCLtweet #ccven #blasphemy @atheistie
— Ivana Bacik (@ivanabacik) November 2, 2013

Members of the Convention on the Irish Constitution voted on Sunday 3 November 2013 on whether the reference to the offence of blasphemy should be kept as it is in the Constitution, 38% said Yes, 61% said No and 1% were either undecided or had no opinion. In a follow-up question, 38% of members believed the offence should be removed from the Constitution altogether, 53% said it should be replaced with a new general provision to include incitement to religious hatred and 9% had no opinion

Abolish Northern Ireland's Blasphemy Law

There's now an effort to abolish the old blasphemy law that still exists in Northern Ireland. See here:

"Blasphemy and blasphemous libel are legal offences in Northern Ireland.

In May 2008, blasphemy laws were abolished by the UK Parliament but this did not extend to Northern Ireland, leaving the matter to be decided by the NI Assembly which has shown no interest in addressing the issue.

Abolition of these archaic laws will bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of UK legislation. It will also be a symbolic act showing that Northern Ireland is finally moving away from religious prejudice, is shunning its fundamentalist elements and is prepared to embrace an inclusive, tolerant and secular future.

Blasphemy laws are used throughout the world to prevent free speech and to oppress and persecute religious minorities. Repeal of the Northern Ireland blasphemy laws will show solidarity with the oppressed while raising awareness of the issue and setting an example for other countries to follow."

Michael Nugent also wrote a compelling piece in The Journal on Ireland's blasphemy law in the summer 2013. He said:

"The Irish blasphemy law reinforces the religious ethos of the 1937 Constitution. The preamble states that all authority of the State comes from a specific god called the Most Holy Trinity. You cannot become President or be appointed as a Judge unless you take a religious oath. There are also other references in the Constitution to religion, as opposed to gods. We should be removing 1930s theistic references from the Irish Constitution, or updating them to reflect the reality of Ireland today, not legislating to enforce them."

Michael Nugent - Getting rid of Ireland's blasphemy law

I've written this article for The Journal about why Ireland needs to get rid of our blasphemy law http://t.co/gj1ReQiKE2
— Michael Nugent (@micknugent) July 28, 2013

@michaelconor @JaneBDonnelly @geoffsshorts Well, you might believe the creator of the universe needs to be protected by Eamon de Valera :)
— Michael Nugent (@micknugent) July 28, 2013

A response:

 

Irish blasphemy laws embolden mistreatment of atheists and Christians worldwide: http://t.co/xlkm7QM2Fp @cemb_forum @TheRationaliser
— Geoff Shorts (@geoffsshorts) July 28, 2013

 

 

Social Media Law in Ireland, Ctd a timeline of events

To understand the social media situation in Ireland we need to go back to December 28 2012 when the Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications announced that it would examine the role of social media in public life.

Committee chairman and Fine Gael TD Tom Hayes was instructed to lead the investigation and to report back to Minister for Communications, Pat Rabitte in early 2013. It’s also important to note that the decision to investigate social media fell against a dark back cloth: the recent suicide of the minister of state for agriculture, Fine Gael TD Shane McEntree. His death has been attributed in part to a period of social media abuse which followed an earlier budget announcement.