Aims etc.

The main reason for this blog is to post a list of letters to, hopefully, all the TDs in the country to let them know our stance on this insane issue. If this had been passed befor the Ryan Report came out almost all the criticism would have fallen under this bills absurdly broad criteria. For the full effect, local constituents should write to there own TDs, make them fear a lost vote. If you can then email the correspondance to harry@harrythemagician.ie I will post them up here for all to see and for people to realise the support we have. Please help.

Below is some links that may help you contact your TDs.

List of all TDs

http://oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=30&disp=mem

To email them you can try their.name@theirparty.ie or therename@thereparty.ie or their.name@oireachtas.ie or therename@oireachtas.ie and you should get them. Alternativly http://contact.ie/content/about-contactie should work and with a small bit of searching you should find their email address.

Letters to TDs: Template

This is the rough template of what I have sent my local TDs, feel free to copy and paste to save yourself time and effort.

Dear XXX,

I am writing to express my extreme displeasure at the proposed blasphemy bill. The notion of fining people for blasphemy is a ridiculous and discriminatory to those who have no faith and do not feel we should be bound by the laws in their holy books. In Ireland we eat pork despite it being against several religions tenets. Should that be considered blasphemy as it may offend many Muslims and Jews and thus be subject to fines under the bill?

REASON FOR DISLIKING PARTY'S STANCE

As a member of your constituency I feel obliged to inform you of my stance on the issue and hope you will bare this in mind if a vote is called.

Respectfully,

YYY

Letters to TDs: Tommy Broughan

I sent the following to Tommy Broughan TD on the 30th of April 09, he has not replied.

Dear Tommy,

I am writing to express my extreme displeasure at the proposed blasphemy bill. The notion of fining people for blasphemy is a ridiculous and discriminatory to those who have no faith and do not feel we should be bound by the laws in their holy books. In Ireland we eat pork despite it being against several religions tenets. Should that be considered blasphemy as it may offend many Muslims and Jews and thus be subject to fines under the bill?

In particular I am disgusted at the failure of the Labour Party to speak out against this. Mr Rabbittes proposed amendment that the penalty be reduced to €1000 is a complete failure on his part to deal with the issue at hand. The size of the fine is completely immaterial compared to the oppressive nature of the bill, the Labour party who claim to have a long tradition of social reform, for example with the decimalisation of homosexuality in the 90's, should be fighting this disturbing bill tooth and claw rather than merely amending the penalty.

As a member of your constituency I feel obliged to inform you of my stance on the issue and hope you will bare this in mind if a vote is called.

Respectfully,

Harry Guinness

Letters to TDs: Michael Woods

I sent the following to Michael Woods TD on the 30th of April 09, it took him until the 13th of May 09 to reply.

Dear Michael,

I am writing to express my extreme displeasure at the proposed blasphemy bill. The notion of fining people for blasphemy is a ridiculous and discriminatory to those who have no faith and do not feel we should be bound by the laws in their holy books. In Ireland we eat pork despite it being against several religions tenets. Should that be considered blasphemy as it may offend many Muslims and Jews and thus be subject to fines under the bill?

I am deeply ashamed to have voted for Fianna Fail during the last election, the introduction of such a draconian and discriminatory policy would be the final straw in any respect I have for this government. I am well aware that the current economic crisis are affected by a huge number of factors outside the governments control and I stand by the economic policies of the government, in fact if anything I think there should have been more privatisation and so my support for the government was not diminished by the economic situation. However this bill thoroughly revolts me and if it were to be passed into law I would be highly unlikely to support any Fianna Fail candidate in any election for years to come.

I feel a recession is a time to bring about social reform and freedom for the people not to destroy their right to free speech.

As a member of your constituency I feel obliged to inform you of my views and hope you will bare them in mind if a vote is called on this.

Feel free to contact me at any time about this.

Respectfully,

Harry Guinness

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Harry Guinness

www.HarryTheMagician.ie

0868616106

Dear Harry,

Thank you for your recent letter regarding your concerns in relation to
The Blasphemy Bill

You may be assured that I have noted your views and concerns in relation
to this matter and have brought them to the attention of Dermot Ahern
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform




I will be in touch with you again as soon as I have further news.
However, if there is any undue delay please do not hesitate to contact
me again on this matter.

Could you please forward me your address for our files


With best wishes,

Yours sincerely,


______________________
DR. MICHAEL WOODS T.D.

Unfortaunately Michael Woods is a conservative Catholic so it is unlikely to get anywhere with him.

Letters to TDs: Terrence Flanagan

I sent the following to Terrence Flanagan TD on the 30th of April 09, it took him until the 17th of June 09 to reply.

Dear Terence,

I am writing to express my extreme displeasure at the proposed blasphemy bill. The notion of fining people for blasphemy is a ridiculous and discriminatory to those who have no faith and do not feel we should be bound by the laws in their holy books. In Ireland we eat pork despite it being against several religions tenets. Should that be considered blasphemy as it may offend many Muslims and Jews and thus be subject to fines under the bill?

As Fine Gael is the chief opposition it is their responsibility to fight these discriminatory bills tooth and claw and not allow such idiocy to pass from the government. I am disappointed that your party has not been more vocal on the issue. Mr Rabbitte of the Labour Party's suggestion of a reduced fine is equally inadequate and misses the point entirely, the amount that is fined is not an issue but the very fact that there is a fine.

As a member of your constituency I feel obliged to inform you of my displeasure at the bill and hope you will bare that in mind if a vote is called.

Feel free to contact me on my details below at any stage about this issue.

Respectfully,

Harry Guinness

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Harry Guinness

www.HarryTheMagician.ie

0868616106

Harry

Many thanks for your email and apologises about not responding earlier as your email was misfiled in error.

Please note the contents of your email were forwarded to our Justice Spokesperson who has taken note.

I agree with your sentiments and will contact you again when the bill comes before the Dáil.

Kind regards

Terence

Terence Flanagan T.D.

We will see how he proceeds, whether he is just making noise or if he holds those sentiments.