The final stage of the Bill in the lower house of the Oireachtas played out on Wednesday. The controversial legislation was published last October and will have dire ramifications for those who are deemed to have engaged in “reckless communication or behaviour that is likely to incite violence or hatred”.
The Hate Speech Bill will be debated later this afternoon, the final Dáil stage before it goes to the Seanad.
Even if enacted without its greater powers, the Bill would have a “chilling effect”. However, many proponents of the Bill are adamant on its more draconian sections and clauses. They have cited that its to-be predecessor, the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, is obsolete because it has only led to a few dozen convictions in its lifetime.
Despite the importance of the Bill, government legislators weren’t exactly present in great number ..
Of the 4 TD's present to debate the final stage of the Hate Speech Bill, there is 1 government TD. pic.twitter.com/E0dG7wpwd6
The fifth and final stage of the Dáil is when final statements are made on a bill and the amendments made to it in earlier sections. The legislators had little to say that had not already been heard – all but People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy.
Legislating for "the creation of a thought crime."
Congratulations to @paulmurphy_TD for this outstanding defence of Free Speech today in Dáil Éireann.
We need more opposition TDs to stand up the dystopian repercussions of this Hate Speech bill. pic.twitter.com/gCEGpLgR3O
The latter amendment looked to remove Section 10 of the Bill, one of the more draconian sections. Despite these efforts, no changes were made to the Bill, and it has continued on the Seanad. In light of this, we encourage you to contact your local TD’s, who’s details can be found here, and to sign and share our petition.
In the run-up to an event this weekend held by Kellie-Jay Keen, a.k.a. Posie Parker, a Gender-Critical Feminist and outspoken voice in the debate around Gender Idealogy, we are seeing many calls to violence and to otherwise “no-platform” the event, to prevent her from speaking.
Keen being escorted away after a mob cancelled her event last month in Auckland, New Zealand
We at Free Speech Ireland wish to condemn in the strongest terms calls for no platforming and the preventing of someone’s right to speak in public.
Gender Idealogy and Transgenderism is one of the most controversial issues in politics today, triggering strong emotions on all sides of the debate. In a free and civil society, the only way to resolve this is open debate in good faith.
Those radical activists attempting to no-platform and prevent her from speaking have no intention of engaging in good faith, believing it is impossible that they could be wrong. They are a tiny minority who are not representative of the average Irish person, who values tolerance and civility, and ones right to honestly disagree out of sincere belief.
All those who believe in open debate around difficult issues must oppose these attempts to silence opposing views in public.
The Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 has entered the 4th stage of the Oireachtas law-making process. This means that it is almost finished in the Dáil and will soon move on to the second house of the Oireachtas, the Seanad.
It does not seem as though any significant changes have been implemented throughout the past stages; the Bill still enables censorship based on gross speculation, and the provision for freedom of expression is perhaps the most poorly defined part of the Bill:
For the purposes of this Part, any material or behaviour is not taken to incite violence or hatred against a person or a group of persons on account of their protected characteristics or any of those characteristics solely on the basis that that material or behaviour includes or involves discussion or criticism of matters relating to a protected characteristic.
Section 11 – “Protection of freedom of expression”
In light of this, we encourage you to contact your local TD’s, who’s details can be found here, and to sign and share our petition.
Following the mantle of Justice Minister transferring to Simon Harris from Helen McEntee, Free Speech Ireland launched an awareness campaign in Harris’ constituency, Wicklow.
FSI activists distributed leaflets in Greystones earlier today
The Justice Minister is the sponsor of the controversial Hate Speech Bill and as such holds primary responsibility for it. Answering a question in the Oireachtas, Harris had the following to say about the Bill:
Minister McEntee published the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill last October which addresses both incitement to hatred or violence and hate crime.
Once enacted the Bill will criminalise any intentional or reckless communication or behaviour that is likely to incite violence or hatred against a person or persons because they are associated with a protected characteristic, and will create new “hate crime” offences where specific offences are aggravated by hate of a protected characteristic.
While the Bill could have dire ramifications for freedom of expression, Wicklow constituents had not heard of it, or that Harris was its sponsor. The following leaflet was distributed to raise awareness:
Thank you to all who attended our public meeting on Justice Minister Helen Mc Entee’s Hate Speech Bill Wednesday evening.
We filled out the hotel conference hall and ran out of standing space at the back!
Professor Gerard Casey and Mattie McGrath TD were our first two speakers.
Casey, a Philosophy academic, criticized the bill for its logical inconsistencies, while McGrath outlined how it may be used to censor political opposition.
Casey’s Speech: “You Cannot Legislate for Morality”
McGrath’s Speech: “A Bill to Shut Us Up!”
Irish Independent columnist Ian O’Doherty lamented how Cancel Culture ended the careers of many of his colleagues in Journalism.
He was followed by Senator Sharon Keogan who warned of the “chilling effect” a Hate Speech law would have.
Ed Shanahan, a barrister and law academic, explained the legal reprecussions of a Hate Speech law, and how it may just be the first in a “floatilla” of legislation designed to remove the rights of Irish people.
It was astoundingly successful evening, and hopefully the first of many such events we intend to host across the country.
Fine Gael TDs Helen McEntee and Neil Richmond have each called for the already over-burdened Garda service to do more in different areas.
The goal set out for new students entering the Garda College in 2022 by the coalition government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party was 800. Official figures, however, show that only 90 students entered the Garda College this year.
Minister McEntee often cites that her proposed Hate Speech Bill is necessary due to the fact that its predecessor, The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, only secured 50 prosecutions in the more than 30 years since it was enacted. There is no doubt that her new bill casts a very wide net, with many in the Dáil criticising it last week on that very basis. It is not the increased number of prosecutions however that will be the greatest strain to Gardaí in this bill: Gardaí will now have to monitor both the streets for crimes, and the Internet for hate crimes.
While McEntee seeks to redirect limited Garda resources online, another Fine Gael TD, Neil Richmond, called for those same resources to be directed onto the streets:
Garda resources are already thin, how can you call for more on the streets while also wanting them to arrest people for tweets?
Free Speech Ireland would like to invite all members of the public to a panel discussion in response to Helen McEntee’s recently introduced Hate Speech Bill.
Featuring a variety of speakers including the Irish Independent’s Ian O’Doherty, UCD’s Professor Gerard Casey, and Senator Sharon Keogan, with more panelists to be announced.
Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022
Free Speech Ireland would like to establish our position on the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 and raise our concerns over the risk that this bill poses to people’s right to freedom of expression. We are concerned that ill-defined and unclear aspects of the bill will result in limitations being placed on people’s right to freedom of expression and that this is an unproductive use of Garda resources. We would like to draw the attention of Irish legislators to Sections 7 through 11 in particular.
Section 7: Establishes that a person may be found guilty of an offence if the person “communicates material to the public or a section of the public” . This not only opens an individual to prosecution for personal statements made, but also for the sharing of content on social media, even if published by another user in a separate country or jurisdiction. Part 3 of this section states that “it shall be a defence to prove that the material concerned or, insofar as appropriate,” if the contribution is considered “genuine” or “reasonable”. These are vague and subjective criteria that may see an individual fined or imprisoned for up to 5 years.
Section 8: Broadly covers the communication of material relating to genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. Similarly however, Section 8 fails to make provisions for the sharing of material published by another individual or entity. It opens a person to prosecution for sharing of historical articles or news items that may not reflect the contemporary views of Irish society. Furthermore this could also affect the communication of material from a foreign culture or country where world views may differ to our own.
Section 9: Under this section a person may be found guilty irrespective of whether communication of material or behaviour was successful in inciting another person to violence or hatred. This would penalise individuals as a result of gross speculation.
Section 10: The possession of material which is not considered “reasonable” or a “genuine contribution” shall be an offence. As with Section 7, these are subjective criteria and are deeply concerning as the bill does not establish what is considered a “reasonable” or “genuine contribution”. It is vital that lawful expression is not restricted by the Government.
Section 11: There is a concerning limited and ill-defined “Protection Of Freedom Of Expression” afforded by the bill in Section 11. This section is no more than four lines, and does not establish clear protections for Freedom of Speech.
Conclusion: We recommend that legislators reject the bill in its current form. Irish legislators should take steps to expand protections against harassment rather than broadly restrict the speech of all individuals.
The Irish government has published the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 as of the 27th October 2022, with full intention to pass the legislation by end of year.
It is imperative that you contact your local TD and ask them to vote against this bill.
If you reside in Meath East please find the contact details of your local TD’s below:
Free Speech Ireland Spokesperson Sarah Hardiman has announced a campaign in Meath East to raise awareness of the threat the proposed Hate Speech and Hate Crime Bill poses to Freedom of speech.
Speaking today, Ms. Hardiman said “Less than five years after the Irish people voted to expand freedom of speech in the blasphemy referendum, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee is looking to restrict those freedoms again under the guise of the Hate Speech and Hate Crime Bill. This is an affront to our basic civil liberties and freedoms”
Ms. Hardiman Continued “From a Scottish comedian being arrested in 2018 for teaching his dog to raise its paw to the command “Sieg Heil” to a Canadian man being jailed for calling his biologically female child his daughter, wherever hate speech legislation has been implemented, it has been abused. The potential for Hate Speech legislation to be used as a baton against political opponents is also significant. In the past few years alone both French and Dutch politicians have had cases taken against them on the grounds of hate speech. Already in Ireland politicians have signalled their interest in using this legislation to censor political opponents”
Speaking on March 9th, during a Dáil debate on a European commission proposal regarding hate speech, Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe said of a minor Irish political party:
“If its members believe they have a right to speech, they will have less of a right to make their statements when we sign up to this [European Commission proposal], because any form of rallying people or inciting hatred in that regard will be illegal,”
“This cuts to the very heart of our democracy. Dáil privileges protect the freedom of speech of politicians. Yet the government is trying to take away the very same right from the Irish people. As this government staggers from crisis to crisis, we cannot allow it to curtail our right to freedom of speech. Free Speech Ireland recognises this as one of the greatest threats to the civil liberties of the Irish people in the history of the state. Because of this, we are committed to leafleting Meath East to raise awareness of the threat that this poses to our democracy.” Concluded Ms. Sarah Hardiman.
