Cult watchdog, Dialogue Ireland, has said the creation of the new offence of blasphemous libel will threaten the work of anti-cult campaigners. Watchdog head, Mike Garde said the Church of Scientology and others would seek to use the new law to silence critics.
''They've tried to prosecute us on the incitement to hatred law before so I have no doubt that they would seek to use this new law on blasphemous libel.''
A group known as Anonymous, whose member's faces are hidden by masks, hold a weekly protest outside the Scientology headquarters in Dublin distributing pamphlets containing serious allegations about the sect.
If the law proposed by Justice Minister, Dermot Ahern is passed, Anonymous members could face up to fines of up to €100,000.
Under the proposed law, contained in the new Defamation Bill, a court would have to be satisfied the matter published is ''grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion'' and that the outrage was intentional.
Mr Garde's comments support an analysis by Irish Times Legal Affairs correspondent, Carol Coulter which pointed that the proposed law does not define ''religion''.
Minister Ahern has insisted the law is required by Article 40 of the Constitution which guarantees freedom of speech and makes an offence of: ''the publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious or indecent material''.
It follows a report of the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, chaired by Seán Ardagh, which recommended the deletion of references to sedition and blasphemy. Mr Ahern, argues that legislating to fill the void will negate the need to hold a costly constitutional referendum to delete the reference.
But the National Union of Journalists is latest of groups to object to the proposal, describing it as ''a fatwa against freedom of expression''.
In a letter to the Irish Times, NUJ Secretary, Seamus Dooley, said a new article, reflecting article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, should instead be added, and could coincide with the next referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
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