Former Justice minister, Charlie Flanagan Government spokespeople have been unable to support a claim by Justice minister Charlie Flanagan that some countries at the United Nations “have quoted Ireland’s blasphemy laws in defence of their own repressive regimes”.
Mr Flanagan made the claim on Twitter on Sunday, October 21, calling for people to vote this Friday to remove Ireland’s constitutional ban on blasphemy.
Asked by The Irish Catholic to give instances of this happening, however, the Department of Justice could not comment, and a Fine Gael spokesperson cited one instance in 2009 when Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, made a proposal to justify a stance on blasphemy which used part of the definition of blasphemy in Ireland’s Defamation Act 2009.
Pakistan made no mention of Ireland when proposing the definition, and omitted how under Irish law matter is not blasphemous unless it is intended to cause outrage.
The spokesperson did not cite any other episodes.