Is anything sacred? A discussion of Irish and international blasphemy laws, organised by Atheist Ireland on Sunday 29 January 2012. The meeting was chaired by Michael Nugent, Chairman of Atheist Ireland, and the main addresses were made by Professor David Nash, professor of history at Oxford Brookes University and Dr Austin Dacey, representative to the United Nations for the International Humanist and Ethical Union. This video is of the first part of the meeting. We hope to publish the second part -- the conversation with the audience -- as soon as possible. The meeting discussed the new anti-blasphemy legislation introduced in Ireland, on 1st February, 2010, and why Atheist Ireland is campaigning to have this law repealed, along with the Constitutional requirement that 'The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law' . Two days after the meeting, Prof. Nash and Atheist Ireland met with senior politicians at the Oireachtas, an event organised by Sen. Ivana Bacik, Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology at Trinity College Dublin, to brief them about the negative international implications for Ireland if the law fails to be repealed.
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