Mark Humphrys (politics)

Home
Contents
Blog
About
Contact

Search:


Sharia law in Ireland - The roll of shame 2009
  The roll of shame 1985

The roll of shame 2009

Irish politicians who voted to make blasphemy illegal in 2009.

This is the most embarrassing vote by Irish politicians on any issue since 1985.

Saint Dominic (founder of the Dominicans) presiding over an auto de fe.
From here.

The roll of shame

The Dail Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights voted on 1 July 2009 to make blasphemy illegal in Ireland (it was already theoretically illegal, but they proposed to introduce a working blasphemy law). The TDs who voted for this were (all FF):

  1. Dermot Ahern
  2. Sean Ardagh
  3. Bobby Aylward
  4. Thomas Byrne
  5. Sean Connick
  6. Brendan Kenneally
  7. Darragh O'Brien
  8. Noel Treacy


The Dail itself then passed this without a vote on 8 July 2009.

Despite widespread national interest in and opposition to this bill, with media debates and national campaigns against it, the FF-Green-PD government refused to allow any proper debate on it in the Dail, and managed to railroad it through without a vote. Dermot Ahern even said on 9 July 2009: "I do not know if I ever received as many e-mails on any other issue in my political career as I did on this. ... They showed outrage. They were all outraged." And yet he refused to allow a Dail debate on this!


The Senate passed the bill on 9 July 2009. The Senators who voted for this were (all FF unless otherwise noted):

  1. Boyle, Dan (Green).
  2. Brady, Martin.
  3. Butler, Larry.
  4. Callely, Ivor.
  5. Cassidy, Donie.
  6. Corrigan, Maria.
  7. Daly, Mark.
  8. de Búrca, Déirdre (Green).
  9. Ellis, John.
  10. Feeney, Geraldine.
  11. Hanafin, John.
  12. Keaveney, Cecilia.
  1. Leyden, Terry.
  2. Ó Murchú, Labhrás.
  3. O'Brien, Francis.
  4. O'Donovan, Denis.
  5. O'Malley, Fiona (PD).
  6. O'Sullivan, Ned.
  7. Ormonde, Ann.
  8. Phelan, Kieran.
  9. Walsh, Jim.
  10. White, Mary M..
  11. Wilson, Diarmuid.

Program on the blasphemy law, RTE, Prime Time, 12th January 2010.
Thomas Byrne, FF TD, who voted for the law in the Dail Committee, defends his role in introducing a working blasphemy law. He actually declares that he doesn't even believe in the law, and yet he helped introduce it!
Islamic reactionary Ali Selim (who believes in sharia) sits beside him, welcoming the law: "you are entitled to hold this value sacred to you, and nobody should degrade that value, full stop".
Is Thomas Byrne proud?
An anonymous, anti-jihad, Irish atheist responds to Thomas Byrne and Ali Selim: It would be nice if the Irish media gave Ali Selim a hard time like this.



Jim Walsh, FF Senator, who voted for the law, is almost alone in Fianna Fail as really defending it.
In the Senate, 9 July 2009, he refers to "the advertisement by Paddy Power, which showed a picture of the Last Supper. I think that kind of thing is unnecessary and gratuitously offensive to people. ... I do not think that should be allowed in society and it does not matter what religion it offends." He absurdly says: "I regard myself as a republican and the essence of that is tolerance for other viewpoints." And then he votes to criminalise "blasphemy": "I do not think anyone will be a victim of this Bill. ... It does not interfere with the freedom of speech but it does provide that those who are grossly abusive or insulting on matters held sacred by a religion and cause outrage among a substantial number of the people when their intention was to cause such outrage will be guilty of an offense. I see nothing wrong with that."

Possible additional names to roll of shame

The lack of a Dail vote spared many blushes. If the Dail had held a vote, most (or all) of the following government TDs would have voted for the bill. But we cannot say with 100 percent certainty how each of these would have voted. There could have been dissent. We cannot even say with 100 percent certainty that the party leaders would be on the list (as Liam Cosgrave showed in 1974). We can only be certain that if the Dail had held a vote, most (and maybe all) of the following would also have been on the roll of shame (all FF unless otherwise noted):

  1. Bertie Ahern.
  2. Michael Ahern.
  3. Noel Ahern.
  4. Barry Andrews.
  5. Chris Andrews.
  6. Niall Blaney.
  7. Áine Brady.
  8. Cyprian Brady.
  9. Johnny Brady.
  10. John Browne.
  11. Dara Calleary.
  12. Pat Carey.
  13. Niall Collins.
  14. Margaret Conlon.
  15. Mary Coughlan.
  16. Brian Cowen.
  17. John Cregan.
  18. Martin Cullen.
  19. John Curran.
  20. Noel Dempsey.
  1. Jimmy Devins.
  2. Timmy Dooley.
  3. Frank Fahey.
  4. Michael Finneran.
  5. Michael Fitzpatrick.
  6. Seán Fleming.
  7. Beverley Flynn
  8. Mary Hanafin.
  9. Seán Haughey.
  10. Máire Hoctor.
  11. Billy Kelleher.
  12. Peter Kelly.
  13. Michael Kennedy.
  14. Tony Killeen.
  15. Séamus Kirk.
  16. Michael Kitt.
  17. Tom Kitt.
  18. Brian Lenihan.
  19. Conor Lenihan.
  20. Micheál Martin.
  1. Tom McEllistrim.
  2. Mattie McGrath.
  3. Michael McGrath.
  4. John McGuinness.
  5. Martin Mansergh.
  6. John Moloney.
  7. Michael Moynihan.
  8. Michael Mulcahy.
  9. M. J. Nolan.
  10. Éamon Ó Cuív.
  11. Charlie O'Connor.
  12. Willie O'Dea.
  13. John O'Donoghue. (*)
  14. Seán Ó Fearghaíl.
  15. Noel O'Flynn.
  16. Rory O'Hanlon.
  17. Batt O'Keeffe.
  18. Ned O'Keeffe.
  19. Mary O'Rourke.
  20. Christy O'Sullivan.
  1. Peter Power.
  2. Seán Power.
  3. Dick Roche.
  4. Eamon Scanlon.
  5. Brendan Smith.
  6. Mary Wallace.
  7. Michael Woods.

  1. Ciarán Cuffe (Green).
  2. Paul Gogarty (Green).
  3. John Gormley (Green).
  4. Noel Grealish (PD).
  5. Mary Harney (PD).
  6. Jackie Healy-Rae (Ind).
  7. Michael Lowry (Ind).
  8. Eamon Ryan (Green).
  9. Trevor Sargent (Green).
  10. Mary White (Green).

(*) He was the Ceann Comhairle, so would not normally vote, but would vote if there was a tie.

The double roll of shame

Irish politicians who appear on both the Roll of shame 1985 and the Roll of shame 2009.

The following voted to make blasphemy illegal and to make contraception for unmarrieds illegal.

Donie Cassidy (FF).


John Ellis (FF).


Terry Leyden (FF).


Noel Treacy (FF).

Possible additional names to double roll of shame

As discussed above, the lack of a Dail vote spared many blushes. If the Dail had held a vote, most (and maybe all) of the following would have been on the double roll of shame (all FF unless otherwise noted):

  1. Ahern, Bertie.
  2. Ahern, Michael.
  3. Browne, John.
  4. Cowen, Brian.
  5. Fahey, Francis.
  6. Harney, Mary (PD).
  7. Kirk, Séamus.
  1. Kitt, Michael.
  2. Nolan, M. J.
  3. O'Dea, William.
  4. O'Hanlon, Rory.
  5. O'Keeffe, Edmond.
  6. O'Rourke, Mary.
  7. Woods, Michael.


Return to Sharia law in Ireland.

Politics      Religion      Since 1995.      New 250 G VPS server.


Banned in Iran: This site is banned in Iran.

Blocked on Twitter by the regressive left and Islamists: I love debate. I love ideas. But the Western left and their friends the Islamic right do not return the favour. Their response to opposing ideas, whether expressed politely or robustly, is often to block. See Who blocks me on Twitter.

I like debate. But I do have rules. See Who I block on Twitter.

Twitter is broken, 2016 to 2022: I am on Twitter at markhumphrys. Twitter was a great place for debate before 2016. You could meet everyone in the world, and argue about ideas. Starting in 2016, Twitter became increasingly broken. It became full of reporting and bans and censorship. In 2019, Twitter even started shadowbanning me for no reason that was ever explained, or could be appealed. By 2022, everyone was looking for a better place to debate.

Twitter is saved, 2022: In 2022 Elon Musk bought Twitter and started to end the censorship. It looks great so far. Twitter seems to be saved.