{"id":663467,"date":"2026-10-23T21:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T21:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/663467\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T21:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T21:44:09","slug":"minister-for-justices-intervention-in-hugging-consent-video-is-unsettling-iccl-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/663467\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister for Justice\u2019s intervention in hugging consent video is \u2018unsettling\u2019, ICCL says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties<\/a> (ICCL) has said Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a>\u2019s comments over a controversial hugging video were \u201cunsettling\u201d. <\/p>\n

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre<\/a> (DRCC) has removed the consent video, which featured grandparents hugging their grandchildren, after widespread public criticism. <\/p>\n

In the video, meant to highlight consent, a girl was visibly uncomfortable over receiving a hug from her grandparents. <\/p>\n

A voiceover said: \u201cNot everyone wants a hug. Even from the people who love them. Awkward? Maybe. Important? Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan issued a statement after the video generated controversy online. <\/p>\n

He said the video \u201cdoes not represent the views of the Government<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was both inappropriate and demeaning to grandparents and has been removed by DRCC following my officials\u2019 engagement with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it is vital to ensure that people understand the concept of consent when it comes to sexual relationships, this video did not advance that aim and in many ways was counterproductive.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Advert showing grandparents hugging grandchildren is taken down amid criticismOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In a statement, the ICCL said: \u201cNo doubt most people in Ireland will have a conversation with friends and families about their understanding of consent this week on foot of the We-Consent video shared by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and its subsequent removal, five weeks after it was first posted. That is a valuable conversation, whether or not people agree or disagree with the execution of the video in question.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is unsettling though is a Minister for Justice interfering with the work of a non-profit organisation, partly funded by the Department of Justice<\/a>, and pressuring it to pull and delete a video that seeks to educate people about consent.\u201d<\/p>\n

It cited a report two years ago which found that State funding can create pressure on civil society organisations to limit their advocacy and campaigning.<\/p>\n

\u201cEpisodes like this risk creating a pervasive chilling effect and self-censorship within civil society, a risk we outlined in our report. They also raise serious questions about Government or ministerial interference in the work of civil society,\u201d the statement concluded. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has said Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s comments over a controversial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9691,124976,1523,61,60,43927,18573,43],"class_list":["post-663467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-department-of-justice","tag-dublin-rape-crisis-centre","tag-government","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-council-for-civil-liberties","tag-jim-ocallaghan","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}