Irish legislation seeks to prosecute citizens possessing 'hate speech'

Irish citizens who are caught in possession of “hate speech” may face up to five years in prison unless they can prove in court they did not have hateful intent, according to new legislation passed in Ireland’s legislature last week.

Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 was introduced last year to update the existing Prohibition of Incitement law of 1989 and make it easier to prosecute offenders.

The bill will punish anyone who “prepares or possesses material that is likely to incite violence or hatred against a person or a group of persons on account of their protected characteristics” and is “reckless as to whether that violence or hatred is being incited”.

The “protected characteristics” which were in the original 1989 bill have also been updated to include gender, disability, sex and descent, which Ireland’s Justice Department said includes Jews who do not practice Judaism.

Once charged, the possessor or “preparer” of the hate speech will need to prove their lack of intent or their “recklessness”. 

“Hate” is not defined in the bill.

“There are people living in this country at this moment in time who are not living their lives as they should simply because of fear,” said Justice Minister Helen McEntee last year when she introduced the legislation.

“We all have a right to feel safe and to be safe but for somebody to feel unsafe simply because of who they are, so their race, their religion, the colour of their skin, and their sexual orientation, it’s not a society that I want to live in, and it’s not what we should be tolerating.”

McEntree clarified that the prohibited hate speech can be through any media, including social media and news media, and that the bill intends to prevent those charged from recanting.

“We are changing that to someone intentionally or recklessly because sometimes you can say something, and you might say ‘I didn’t mean it’, but if you still carry through knowing that your intentions may have had those consequences, then that is what we’re looking at here.”

Ireland’s Justice Department insists that free speech will not be harmed from the new law, though prominent voices are not convinced.

“Massive attack on freedom of speech,” billionaire Elon Musk tweeted in response to the bill.

“It’s insane what’s happening in the ‘free world’,” wrote Donald Trump, Jr.

The legislation has passed Dáil Éireann, the lower house of Ireland’s Oireachtas, or parliament. It is now in the second stage before Seanad Éireann, parliament’s upper house. It will go through three more stages before being signed into law by the president.

“This clause is so radical that even the Trotskyist People Before Profit opposed it as a flagrant violation of civil liberties,” said Irish influencer Keith Woods. “Dark times.”