2 MURPHY v. IRELAND JUDGMENT There appeared before the Court: (a) for the Government Ms D. MCQUADE, of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr D. O'DONNELL, S.C., Mr B. MURRAY, S.C., Mr C. O'TOOLE, Counsel, Adviser. (b) for the applicant Mr J. FINLAY, S.C., Mr G. HOGAN, S.C., Mr F. O'REILLY, Counsel, Solicitor. Agent, The applicant also attended. The Court heard addresses by each of the counsel present. THE FACTS I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE 7. The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Dublin. He is a pastor attached to the Irish Faith Centre, a bible based Christian ministry in Dublin. 8. In early 1995 the Irish Faith Centre submitted an advertisement to an independent, local and commercial radio station for transmission. The text of the advertisement read as follows: “What think ye of Christ? Would you, like Peter, only say that he is the son of the living God? Have you ever exposed yourself to the historical facts about Christ? The Irish Faith Centre are presenting for Easter week an hour long video by Dr Jean Scott Phd on the evidence of the resurrection from Monday 10 th - Saturday 15th April every night at 8.30 and Easter Sunday at 11.30am and also live by satellite at 7.30pm.” 9. The radio station was prepared to broadcast the advertisement. However, in March 1995 the Independent Radio and Television Commission (“IRTC”) stopped the broadcast pursuant to Section 10(3) of the Radio and Television Act 1988 (“the 1988 Act”). This ruling did not affect the later transmission of the video by satellite. 10. The applicant applied for leave to take judicial review proceedings. He cited the IRTC and the Attorney General as respondents and submitted that the IRTC had wrongly construed Section 10(3) and, alternatively and