The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
CLARE has voted by a significant majority to remove the crime of blasphemy from its constitution. As expected, Clare voters endorsed this move with 61.88% voting in favour and 38.114 voting against. The total electorate was 83,044 and the total poll was 41,766. There were 755 spoilt votes leaving a total valid poll of 41,021. The blasphemy referendum, which was held alongside the presidential election is the latest sign of the weakening of religious conservatism in the country. The last prosecution for blasphemy in Ireland was in 1855, but three years ago gardaí investigated comments made by Stephen Fry on television in which the comedian described God as “capricious”, “mean-minded”, and an “utter maniac”. The investigation, which was initiated following a complaint made in Ennis Garda Station was later dropped after gardai decided insufficient numbers of people had been outraged. Ireland voted to allow same-sex marriage in 2015, and nearly two-thirds of Irish voters backed the repeal of the country’s …
Read More »