UCC may face Garda investigation over an allegedly blasphemous exhibition depicting the Virgin Mary in a bikini, according to unconfirmed reports.
Although the Garda Press Office last night said that it wasn’t aware of any ongoing or planned investigation against the university, though neither denied that such investigations were under consideration, the Association of Catholic Lawyers in Ireland (ACLI) claimed in a blog that the Gardaí were considering whether or not to send a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) as a result of the two day exhibit.
National news website TheJournal.ie also reported that Gardaí were considering sending a file to the national criminal prosecutor on foot of the public display by Mexican artist Alma Lopez, which accompanied a two day conference on Hispanic and Chicano culture taking place at the university, while The Guardian’s Pádraig Reily speculated in a column today that UCC may still “have a case on its hands” as a result of the artist’s controversial display.
The display, which was on show for two days on the second floor of the O’Rahilly Building, drew the ire of international protesters and Catholic advocates, who claimed that it ‘blasphemed’ the image of Mary.
A number of online e-petitions reportedly drew thousands of signatures calling for the exhibition to not be allowed to go ahead, while a UCC spokesperson told the Irish Examiner that the university had had a number of abusive phone-calls as a result of the controversial item.
The UCC Atheist Society organized a counter demonstration on the second day of the exhibit’s display to protest the continuing effect of Ireland’s recently introduced blasphemy legislation, and called on citizens to ‘open their minds’ to what was on display in college.
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