UPDATE: Controversial Irish Hate Speech Law Dropped
After intense debate, the controversial 'hate speech' bill in Ireland was dropped in September 2024. The proposed legislation was seen as too vague and a serious threat to free speech.
In April 2023, the lower house of the Irish parliament passed what could have become the most extreme 'hate speech' law in Europe, with critics saying it is in fact a 'thought crime' bill. As reported by OIDAC, the text of the bill makes "the possession of material deemed 'hateful' towards certain groups a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment, and shifts the burden of proof to the accused, who will be expected to prove that they didn't intend to use the material to 'spread hate'". As proposed, the bill could have even criminalised certain Christian teachings, such as the Catholic and most Protestant churches' doctrine of marriage as a union between one man and one woman, or the condemnation of sinful behaviour.
After it passed its first vote, the bill sparked enormous debate about its content and the obvious dangers it posed to the human right to freedom of expression. The main criticism was the apparent lack of definition of crucial terms such as 'incitement' and 'hatred', which Senator Michael McDowell described as "an affront to almost every constitutional principle". According to him, Hellen McEntee - the Justice Minister responsible for introducing the bill - proposed the vague terms to facilitate prosecution, despite the UN's call for hate speech laws to be specific about what is and is not 'hate'.
As a result, the bill faced serious opposition and couldn't reach consensus among political parties. In this scenario, the Minister of Justice announced in September 2024 that she was abandoning the legislative project. However, it was immediately clear that the Irish government would continue its efforts to criminalise 'hate speech'.
As seen in OIDAC's 2024 report (pp. 40-41), several Christians have been prosecuted for peacefully expressing their religious beliefs under extremely vague 'hate speech' laws, which pose a growing threat to religious freedom in Europe.
Source:bbc.com, rte.ie, christian.org.uk
Image: Wikimedia Commons
