The Irish government has abandoned plans to implement a controversial new hate speech law after widespread backlash from free speech advocates.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee confirmed on Saturday that Dublin would remove new provisions on hate speech from the proposed Criminal Justice Bill, adding that the “incitement to hatred” section of the bill legislation “No agreement was reached” The Irish Times Reports.
Critics of the speech restrictions point out that the government doesn't actually define what constitutes “hate,” and therefore the law gives the state broad powers to suppress dissent. The scope of these draconian powers would have even included jailing someone for up to two years for simply “possessing material that may incite violence or hatred on the basis of a protected characteristic.”
Anyone found guilty of “inciting violence or hatred against people on the basis of a protected characteristic” faces up to five years in prison.
Supporters of the introduction of new hate speech regulations argue that they are necessary for the “public good”, with many citing rising tensions and outbursts of violence over the government's mass immigration policies which have fundamentally changed Ireland's demographics and placed enormous strain on public resources.
The decision to repeal the hate speech clause has been hailed as a victory for freedom across the Western world. Explained He called the event a “huge victory for free speech,” adding, “This is great news that gives us momentum to defeat totalitarianism all over the world!”
Populist Irish Liberal Party said In a statement, it said: “The government has blocked the anti-free speech bill, despite the Irish Freedom Party leading the campaign against these draconian measures since 2019. It's good to see results, but we need to get rid of all politicians who try to restrict our freedoms – vote them out.”
The government has, at least for now, rolled back most of the new speech restrictions, but Justice Minister McEntee said the government would “determinedly” press ahead with plans to impose additional penalties where offences involved an element of “hate”.
The bill would allow for harsher penalties for people convicted of violent crimes based on so-called “protected characteristics,” including ethnicity, race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation and disability.
“If you assault another person or commit a crime against that person or against a group of people, you're ultimately going to face a higher penalty, a harsher sentence, simply because of who you are, the color of your skin, where you come from,” McEntee said.
Irish Liberal Party said He said the bill remained “unacceptable” and that hate crime laws would create a “dual justice system” in Ireland and mean “crimes against members of particular minority groups are treated more severely than crimes against the general public”.
Campaign group Free Speech Ireland also warned that the Government could still seek to criminalise speech and the bill could still impose penalties for “genocide denial”.
“The removal of provisions introducing new criminal penalties for hate speech from the Hate Speech Bill is a major victory. This bill would have been a political danger for the Government, so we thank everyone for their support of freedom of speech,” the campaign group said. Written About X.
“But the bill remains problematic on several points, from granting the power to seize equipment to criminalizing discussion of genocide. We will be paying close attention to upcoming amendments in the Senate.”
