Charlie Hebdo on sale in Ireland – but no media blasphemy

Charlie Hebdo on sale in Ireland – finally. Irish retailers received 1,500 copies of the survivors edition during the last week of January 2015.

The news was well covered in the Irish media including The Irish Times, Irish Independent, RTE and Limerick Leader (where Charlie Hebdo reportedly sold out).

But was any of them brave enough to challenge the blasphemy laws and show the cover of Charlie Hebdo on sale ?

The Irish Times probably avoided falling foul of Irish blasphemy laws by showing only the prophet’s hands holding the “Je Suis Charlie” sign on Charlie Hebdo on sale :

“The special edition of Charlie Hebdo magazine commemorating victims of the January 7th shootings in Paris has gone on sale in Ireland following a delay of almost two weeks.
Shoppers on Dublin’s northside flocked to the O’Connell Street news kiosk on Tuesday morning to pick up copies which arrived earlier in the day.
The so-called “survivors’ edition” of the satirical magazine is selling for €4.95, as opposed to the French recommended retail price of €3.

The magazine’s circulation was initially boosted from the usual run of 60,000 copies to three million for the commemorative edition, which features a weeping prophet Muhammad on the cover saying “Tout est pardonné” – or all is forgiven.

Despite subsequent increases in the print run to five million and then seven million in order to cope with demand in France, Irish retailers faced repeated delays in receiving an allocation of 1,500 copies.
It’s 25 per cent less than the 2,000 copies that were expected to be imported by EM News Distribution, the sole suppliers of Charlie Hebdo in Ireland, two days after the initial release in France on January 14th.
The company said no complaints were received about the reduced allocation, dispatched to shops in locations including Dublin, Thurles, Killarney and Galway.”

The Irish Independent reported Charlie Hebdo on sale without any pictures of the cover under the headline:

Limited copies of Charlie Hebdo on sale across the country following huge demand
Some outlets have already sold out

 

RTE may have pushed the boundaries a little further, their video clearly shows glimpse of the cover of Charlie Hebdo on sale with the image of Mohammad and so potentially could be challenging the threats of legal action made by leading Muslim academics:

“Copies of the Charlie Hebdo magazine were distributed last night to around 120 retailers in Ireland.

A spokesman for EM News Distribution Limited said 1,500 copies had been distributed following a delay of 11 days since the initial anticipated date of delivery.

Until now, the distributor’s associated company in Britain, Menzies, had difficulties securing a substantial number of copies of the survivors’ edition of the title.”

 

Under the headline “Sold! Copies of Charlie Hebdo sell out in Limerick” The Limerick Leader played it completely safe on the blasphemy front with a picture of the shop owner and not a Charlie Hebdo in sight (you would have thought he held on to one for publicity reasons?).