Ireland votes on historic blasphemy ban

Irish voters were deciding Friday whether to repeal a ban on blasphemy -- the latest potential reform distancing the once-devout nation from its Catholic past.

The referendum was being held alongside a presidential election in which incumbent Michael Higgins was expected to secure a new seven-year term in the largely ceremonial post.

Irish law defines blasphemy as a "matter that 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".

Blasphemy is punishable by a EUR25,000 ($28,400) fine, although it is believed that the last attempted prosecution in the country was when a priest accidentally burnt a bible in 1855 -- before blasphemy was enshrined in the 1937 constitution -- rendering the present-day law largely obsolete.