The 2006 Defamation Bill, Ireland Falls in press-Freedom

international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Monday December 20, 2010 10:55 by Press Freedom

Dermot Ahern's legacy to European press freedom

It is ok for this writer to ask if our Fianna Fáil/Green Government are men or mice? because it is quite clear that Ireland's government is male-dominated and amongst the trash of its legacy appears the failure which we have come to know as the Blasphemy Amendment , which was an innovation by a Minister for Justice unconcerned in the state of prisons, best practices with regard to fefamation of religions or personal freedom.

On July 23rd of 2009 the Irish president gave her seal to the Criminal Justice Act and the Defamation Bill, wherein groups are incentivised to take legal action against what they perceive or understand to be published or uttered Blasphemy.

Reporters Without Borders

Ahern, who will retire at the next GE, managed possibly more than any other Minister to catapult Ireland
into the middle ages- and not those of sublime art , but of the theocratic legalistic courtroom, where
blasphemy and it's definition usurp freedoms that were hard fought and won by writers such as
Huxley, Tolstoy, and Harrison. He left as a legacy the usurpation of rights and freedoms by interest
groups and lobbies who desire the control of the person: * INCENTIVISATION*

He must be rubbing his little hands with glee, even if the global criticism of Ireland's medievalism
deafens him to what is essentially a Fianna Fáil hobbyism , born in the scrapbooks and minds of
true Fianna Fáil heroes, topmost of that pile being Archbishop Mc Quaid.

Nothing about the De Valera pattern-book of governance that Fianna Fáil has utilised over the last
almost 14 years is really surprising, except maybe the fasttrack planning and abuse of office, the
fact that it was aided and abetted by a party which is mostly perceived as too liberal by Irish Conservatism,
The Greens, provides any slight difference in how this Government has behaved and will continue to behave
if *ever* re-elected.

But some of us could have told Minister Gormley that in 2006....

Here is the Press-Freedom League figures for 2010, Ireland has toppled from the No.1 spot due
to the vagaries of its Minister, whose political obituary whilst 'polite'- never quite made it to 'fond'.

Rank Country Note

1 Finland 0,00
- Iceland 0,00
- Netherlands 0,00
- Norway 0,00
- Sweden 0,00
- Switzerland 0,00
7 Austria 0,50
8 New Zealand 1,50
9 Estonia 2,00
- Ireland 2,00
11 Denmark 2,50
- Japan 2,50
- Lithuania 2,50
14 Belgium 4,00
- Luxembourg 4,00
- Malta 4,00
17 Germany 4,25
18 Australia 5,38
19 United Kingdom 6,00
20 United States of America 6,75
21 Canada 7,00
- Namibia 7,00
23 Hungary 7,50
- Czech Republic 7,50
25 Jamaica 7,67
26 Cape Verde 8,00
- Ghana 8,00
- Mali 8,00
29 Costa Rica 8,08
30 Latvia 8,50
- Trinidad and Tobago 8,50
32 Poland 8,88
33 Chile 10,50
34 Hong-Kong 10,75
35 Slovakia 11,50
- Surinam 11,50
37 Uruguay 11,75
38 South Africa 12,00
39 Spain 12,25
40 Portugal 12,36
41 Tanzania 13,00
42 South Korea 13,33
- Papua New Guinea 13,33
44 France 13,38
45 Cyprus 13,40
46 Slovenia 13,44
47 Bosnia and Herzegovina 13,50
48 Taiwan 14,50
49 Burkina Faso 15,00
- Italy 15,00
51 El Salvador 15,83
52 Maldives 16,00
- Romania 16,00
54 Paraguay 16,25
55 Argentina 16,35
56 Haiti 16,38
57 Organization of Eastern Caribbean States 16,50 nc
58 Brazil 16,60
59 Guyana 16,63
60 Togo 17,00
61 Cyprus (North) 17,25
62 Botswana 17,50
- Croatia 17,50
64 Bhutan 17,75
65 Mauritius 18,00
- Seychelles 18,00
67 Guinea-Bissau 18,25
68 Macedonia 18,40
69 Central African Republic 18,50
70 Benin 19,00
- Bulgaria 19,00
- Comoros 19,00
- Greece 19,00
- Kenya 19,00
75 Moldova 19,13
76 Mongolia 19,42
77 Guatemala 20,25
78 Lebanon 20,50
79 Malawi 21,00
80 Albania 21,50
81 Panama 21,83
82 Zambia 22,00
83 Nicaragua 22,33
84 Liberia 22,50
85 Serbia 23,00
86 Israel (Israeli territory) 23,25
87 United Arab Emirates 23,75
- Kuwait 23,75
- Tonga 23,75 nc
90 Lesotho 24,00
91 Sierra Leone 24,25
92 Kosovo 24,83
93 Senegal 25,00
- Timor-Leste 25,00
95 Mauritania 25,38
96 Uganda 25,50
97 Dominican Republic 26,13
98 Mozambique 26,50
99 United States of America (extra-territorial) 27,00
- Georgia 27,00
101 Armenia 27,50
- Ecuador 27,50
103 Bolivia 28,13
104 Angola 28,50
- Montenegro 28,50
- Niger 28,50
107 Gabon 28,75
108 Burundi 28,88
109 Peru 30,00
110 Djibouti 30,50
111 Samoa 33,00 nc
112 Chad 33,17
113 Guinea 33,50
114 Congo 33,60
115 Tajikistan 34,50
116 Madagascar 34,88
117 Indonesia 35,83
118 Côte d’Ivoire 36,00
119 Nepal 36,38
120 Jordan 37,00
121 Qatar 38,00
122 India 38,75
123 Zimbabwe 39,50
124 Oman 40,25
125 Gambia 40,50
126 Bangladesh 42,50
127 Egypt 43,33
128 Cambodia 43,83
129 Cameroon 44,30
130 Iraq 45,58
131 Ukraine 46,83
132 Israel (extra-territorial) 47,00
133 Algeria 47,33
- Venezuela 47,33
135 Morocco 47,40
136 Mexico 47,50
- Singapore 47,50
138 Turkey 49,25
139 Ethiopia 49,38
140 Russia 49,90
141 Malaysia 50,75
142 Brunei 51,00
143 Honduras 51,13
144 Bahrein 51,38
145 Colombia 51,50
- Nigeria 51,50
147 Afghanistan 51,67
148 Democratic Republic of Congo 51,83
149 Fiji 52,75
150 Palestinian Territories 56,13
151 Pakistan 56,17
152 Azerbaijan 56,38
153 Thailand 56,83
154 Belarus 57,00
155 Swaziland 57,50
156 Philippines 60,00
157 Saudi Arabia 61,50
158 Sri Lanka 62,50
159 Kyrgyzstan 63,00
160 Libya 63,50
161 Somalia 66,00
162 Kazakhstan 68,50
163 Uzbekistan 71,50
164 Tunisia 72,50
165 Vietnam 75,75
166 Cuba 78,00
167 Equatorial Guinea 79,00
168 Laos 80,50
169 Rwanda 81,00
170 Yemen 82,13
171 China 84,67
172 Sudan 85,33
173 Syria 91,50
174 Burma 94,50
175 Iran 94,56
176 Turkmenistan 95,33
177 North Korea 104,75
178 Eritrea 105,00