Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan today told the D\u00e1il that he has no intention to reintroduce failed hate speech legislation, saying he is \u201cfairly satisfied\u201d that Ireland has transposed the European Council framework decision on combating hate speech.<\/p>\n
It came after Aont\u00fa Deputy Paul Lawless asked Mr O\u2019Callaghan if he had raised the implications of the proposed EU legislation on hate speech at an EU level.<\/p>\n
In May, Ireland was warned it had two months to implement hate speech laws or run the risk of legal action from the EU. The European Commission has claimed that Ireland is allegedly \u201cfailing\u201d to comply with laws around hate, threatening Ireland with legal action if it does not comply with the EU\u2019s laws on hate speech, which are more wide-reaching that current Irish law, or else risk being referred to the EU\u2019s court of Justice.<\/p>\n
The Commission\u2019s policies pay particular attention to specific forms of hate speech and hate crime experienced by groups and communities, such as antisemitism, as mentioned in the EU Strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life (2021-2030)<\/a>, anti-Muslim hatred<\/a> or anti-gypsyism<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rather than passing a broad hate speech law, the Oireachtas passed the Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act 2024<\/a>, coming into effect on 31st December 2024. The law created specific aggravated offences for crimes motivated by hostility towards protected characteristics, with hate speech provisions removed due to a lack of parliamentary consensus; however the existing Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989<\/a> remains in force, under which incitement to hatred is criminalised.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O\u2019Callaghan TD, if he had raised the implications of the proposed EU legislation on hate speech at an EU level, and if he would make a statement on the matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIs it the Minister\u2019s intention to reintroduce the hate speech legislation brought forward by his predecessor in the previous D\u00e1il that was a such dramatic failure?\u201d Lawless asked.<\/p>\n In response, Deputy Jim O\u2019Callaghan said he was \u201cfairly satisfied\u201d that Ireland has transposed the European Council framework decision on \u201ccombating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia in a manner appropriate and tailored to the domestic system of law in Ireland. \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cI assure Members of the House that Ireland\u2019s position has been communicated to the European Commission,\u201d he said. \u201cThat position is that the framework decision is fully transposed in Irish legislation in a manner appropriate and tailored to the domestic system of criminal law and procedure, and is in line with Article 40.6 of the Constitution, which expressly respects and protects the right to freedom of expression and of people to express their views freely.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Deputy will be aware that last year the House enacted legislation to provide for tougher sentences for crimes motivated by hate. That was the Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act 2024. This was sensible legislation that provided for increased prison sentences for certain crimes where they are proven to be motivated by hatred or where hatred is demonstrated. For approximately 36 years, we have had the Prohibition of Incitement To Hatred Act 1989.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat provides general protections in respect of those who seek to incite violence and hatred against others because of their inherent characteristics,\u201d the Minister continued. <\/p>\n Deputy Lawless said he welcomed the Minister\u2019s response and what he said was \u201cthe sea change in the Government\u2019s approach to the hate speech legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHis predecessor, Deputy McEntee, was a big proponent and driver of this hate speech legislation, so I commend the Minister, Deputy O\u2019Callaghan, on what he is doing. This House should always protect freedom of speech. We saw in Germany recently that pro-Palestinian protesters were treated in the harshest way possible. In this country, people\u2019s views of and sympathies towards the Palestinian people are very different,\u201d Lawless continued, referring to warnings about bans, laws and deportation efforts which commentators say are specifically targeting German critics of Israel\u2019s military activity.<\/p>\n \u201cIn relation to the movements from the European Union, is the message from this Government that it is in compliance and will not be co-operating with any diktat in relation to hate speech legislation?\u201d the Mayo TD asked.<\/p>\n Minister O\u2019Callaghan said he wanted to dispute \u201cthe Deputy\u2019s categorisation of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, in terms of her role in the previous Government.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the policy of the previous Government and the previous Government made a decision to change that policy. It is unfair of the Deputy to focus on her individually,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn regard to challenging hate speech, it is important to point out that, as I said earlier, simply because there is not new legislation being put in place does not mean there is not legislation in place. Since 1989 we have had the Prohibition of Incitement To Hatred Act. It exists in our law. We have a common law that provides for circumstances where aiding and abetting of criminal offences is also a criminal offence. The law covers this area.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018ARE WE GOING TO SAY NO TO EUROPE ON THIS MATTER?\u2019<\/p>\n Deputy Paul Lawless said in response that \u201cwe abhor hate and I firmly believe that we should all speak respectfully.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, the previous Government set out essentially to define what hate would be. That is obviously a dangerous road to go down. There is a movement throughout the European Union to push hate speech laws. Is the Minister saying today that is not going to happen and we are in compliance and we are going to say \u201cNo\u201d to Europe on this matter?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have answered that already,\u201d Mr O\u2019Callaghan said. \u201cI said we have fully transposed the Council decision. It is part of Irish law. We fully transposed it. There are no further steps for Ireland to take. However, I believe we all have a responsibility to ensure we challenge hate speech. Irrespective of whether it is challenged in the courts or by the Garda, we have a responsibility to challenge it.\u201d<\/p>\n Last May, MEP Michael McNamara called on the Commission to back down, calling the efforts \u201cfundamentally misguided.\u201d During a speech in Brussels, he told the Commission that changing the law further would restrict legitimate free speech.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople resent the fact that they\u2019re threatened with prosecution for expressing their views. We now know that increasing proportions of populations across Europe are afraid to express their views, rightly or wrongly, but it doesn\u2019t stop people or it doesn\u2019t affect how people think in any way, it just affects what they\u2019re afraid to say and what they resent.\u201d<\/p>\n McNamara claimed that the EU\u2019s hate speech laws are \u201csimply not working\u201d and urged the commission to \u201crevisit the approach that they\u2019re taking to hate speech laws and indeed to Ireland\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan today told the D\u00e1il that he has no intention to reintroduce failed hate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2244,1813,47262,61,60,18573,43,47263],"class_list":["post-70387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-hate-speech","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jim-ocallaghan","tag-news","tag-paul-lawless"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70387","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=70387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}