The roll of shame 1985 |
This is the most embarrassing vote by Irish politicians on any issue since 1985.
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):
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 shameThe 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):
(*) He was the Ceann Comhairle, so would not normally vote, but would vote if there was a tie.
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The following voted to make blasphemy illegal and to make contraception for unmarrieds illegal.
Donie Cassidy (FF).
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John Ellis (FF).
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Terry Leyden (FF).
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Noel Treacy (FF).
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Possible additional names to double roll of shameAs 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):
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Sharia law in Ireland.