Ireland Has Officially Voted To Remove Blasphemy From The Constitution

Along with voting Michael D Higgins in for a second term in the presidential election, the Irish people have voted to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Constitution.

A huge 64.85% of people voted ‘Yes’ to removing the offence.

The Constitution had stated that, “The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law.”

The vote means that the word “blasphemous” will now be removed, though the rest of the sentence will remain.

Ahead of Friday’s vote, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said, “What we want to have in Ireland is a 21st Century constitution for a 21st Century republic.

“We’ve already reformed our Constitution to allow for things like marriage equality, women’s right to choose.

“We believe that having a criminal offence for blasphemy in Ireland is a bit outdated so we’re asking people to change that. It’s very much part of a reform of our whole Constitution to make the country more modern.”

READ MORE: Michael D Higgins Has Been Re-elected as President of Ireland