Dublin’s Coalition Government will scrap the most controversial parts of its pending legislation which would have introduced hate speech laws—and, say critics, introduced thought crime into Irish law.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee (Fine Gael) has promised to remove specific proposals on incitement to hatred—while leaving the ‘hate crime’ parts of the legislation intact. In other words, the law will now focus on ‘hate crimes,’ such as violence with hateful motives, while leaving speech unprosecuted.
Two years ago, the government sought to rush through new laws ‘fit for the digital age.’ Following riots across Ireland, these would have even included penalties for receiving ‘hateful’ content in private online messages.
The proposals led to a serious backlash, with X-owner Elon Musk promising to fund the legal defence of anyone caught up in the new laws. Polling indicated opposition to the new laws at around 70%.
TDs (MPs) and senators were also unsettled by the hate speech bill’s failure to define ‘hatred’—and opposed to turning the simple possession of material into an offence.
Independent TD Carol Nolan called the decision
a victory for free speech and a calamitous political and ideological defeat for Minister McEntee and a government that had to be pushed into accepting the validity of basic democratic norms.
With Minister McEntee now likely to remove the legislation’s incitement to violence and hatred, it looks like the eventual legislation will be far less draconian than first planned.
Looming parliamentary elections could potentially have something to do with the government backing off from the highly contested proposal.
The next elections to the Irish parliament must be held by the latest in March 2025 but recent polls giving Taoiseach (PM) Simon Harris a 55% approval rating, and his party, Fine Gael, a four-point climb in voter support since May—to 27%—are likely to prompt him to call an earlier general election. Sinn Fein under Mary Lou McDonald polled at 20%, its lowest result since before the 2020 general election.
