An Taoiseach has now provided a response to the open letter delivered by Atheist Ireland in February of this year. As part of the response, he had the following to say: “The Government … asked the Minister for Justice and Equality to undertake the work necessary to prepare a Referendum Bill and a Bill to amend the current legislative provision for the offence of blasphemy. I said in the Dáil earlier this year that the blasphemy referendum will not be held during 2015, as we are already putting two referenda (on marriage equality and reducing the age of the candidacy in Presidential elections) to the people this year. Fixing a data for this referendum will therefore be a matter for the administration that enters office during 2016. In the mean time, the minister and her officials are working on preparing the necessary legislation; and this is clearly provided in the Government Legislative Program for 2015 that we announced in January. I have sent to the Minister a copy of your letter and this reply for her information. I realise that your members are impatient to have the blasphemy referendum held as soon as possible. However, I consider that it can be counter-productive to put too many referenda to the people over a short period of time.” http://atheist.ie/2015/05/an-taoiseach-responds-to-atheist-ireland-open-letter/