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This article was first published on 6 October 2018.
TODAY IS THE deadline to register to vote in this month’s election and referendum.
Eligible voters have until close of business today, October 9, to submit the necessary forms to their local council to apply for inclusion on the supplementary register of electors or to amend their details.
Momentum is building in the presidential election campaign, and the public will be hearing a lot more from the six candidates – Peter Casey, Gavin Duffy, Joan Freeman, Seán Gallagher, Michael D Higgins, and Liadh Ní Riada – over the coming weeks.
The blasphemy referendum will also be held on October 26. The Referendum Commission’s guide has been posted to all households to bring everyone up to speed on the plebiscite.
The government has proposed altering Article 40.6.1(i) of the Constitution. It reads as follows – the only relevant word is the one we’ve highlighted in bold:
The State guarantees liberty for the exercise of the following rights, subject to public order and morality:–
The right of the citizens to express freely their convictions and opinions.
The education of public opinion being, however, a matter of such grave import to the common good, the State shall endeavour to ensure that organs of public opinion, such as the radio, the press, the cinema, while preserving their rightful liberty of expression, including criticism of Government policy, shall not be used to undermine public order or morality or the authority of the State.
The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law.
The government and the laws it creates are guided by the Constitution, and so the offence of blasphemy must be legislated for. You’ll find it in the Defamation Act 2009, and is an offence for which you can be fined up to €25,000. There is no prison sentence.
A Yes vote would remove the word ‘blasphemous’. This means the government would be no longer required to legislate for blasphemy.
A No vote would retain the word. This means the government would still be required to legislate for blasphemy.
You can read about the proposed change here in our explainer, and we’ll have more coverage over the coming weeks to help you make up your mind in both the referendum and the presidential election.
First, let’s make sure you’re registered to have your say in both.
Only Irish citizens over the age of 18 are eligible to vote in both the referendum and the presidential election.
If you tick those two boxes, you’re halfway there:
The deadline has passed to register for a postal vote (available to Irish diplomats, members of An Garda Síochána and Defence Forces, prisoners, people with a physical illness or disability, students studying full-time in Ireland but away from home, and for those who would not be able to get to their polling station due to their job) and to be included on the special voters list (for people who live in hospitals, nursing homes or similar institutions).
And that’s it – if you have any niggling questions, Citizens Information has more details about the ins-and-outs of registering to vote here.
We’ll have more coverage in the coming weeks to help you make up your mind on both the referendum and election, as well as taking you through the process of voting on the day.
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Save the world guys!, pay 2 euro for a litre of diesel\petrol in Ireland (a tiny country) while the US and other major powers\populations pay quarter of that…we’ve probably had about 20 years of these Carbon taxes and it doesn’t seems to be stopping anything :-(
@Spartacus Ireland: very true & Britain only accounts for 1% of global emissions but still inspires larger countries with green policies. I agree we play a small role but what’s the alternative in your view.
@Mjhint: We couldn’t incentivise?…it’s the same approach to obesity make the bad food more expensive and the good food even more expensive!?…I went to look into buying a basic electric car (38k?), I looked into a little wind generated in the house (thousands!!)…and if I’m taxed more and more I’ll never be able to afford these green technologies…make the good stuff cheaper is my suggestion, or is that just too difficult!?
@Ireland Abú: Yes, if this is an emergency we really need to incentivise very quickly…and if that means practically giving electric cars away or making the new technologies much more affordable then I’m in for sure!!…but I just don’t see the real and immediate benefit to these taxes (they’ve been with us a long time and still the globe gets hotter)…it seemed that CFC removal in aerosol in the eighties made the Ozone problem better (…or did it???)…all that’s happening right now is I’m just going broke and still trying to get to work and still trying to heat my home :-(
@Ireland Abú: get a job.
Barry Cowan looks towards the SF benches as he delivers the eunuchs-in-a-brothel line. I suppose if he is suggesting SF are the eunuchs then it follows that the Dail is a brothel.
have your say