Last year, with all major political parties backing it, I assumed Ireland's Hatred & Hate Offences Bill was unstoppable. Now, I see that David can beat Goliath. Goliath will be back very soon, but for now, he has been sent away with his tail between his legs.
In April 2023, the Hatred and Hate Offences Bill passed through the lower house of the Irish Parliament by an overwhelming majority: 110 votes in its favor and just 14 votes against.
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When it reached the Senate, several senators raised concerns about its implications for civil liberties. Over the past year and a half, the bill has gained so much notoriety that the Irish government has backed away from it and dropped the bill entirely, at least those elements that concern hate speech.
This is a very encouraging victory for free speech advocates and for the free speech movement internationally. What would have happened if a coalition of activists, journalists, and business people had not lined up against this bill - people such as Senator Michael McDowell, Free Speech Ireland, Gript, and ADF Alliance Defending Freedom, and, of course, Elon Musk?
This is what would have happened: the existing hate speech regime in Ireland, based on the 1989 Prohibiton of Incitement to Hatred Act, would have been strengthened and made considerably more draconian. The maximum penalties for hate speech offences, for example, would have increased from two years to five years. The list of protected characteristics would have been significantly expanded, and the threshold for prosecution would have been lowered. Instead of having to show intent to incite hatred or prove that the person was aware of inciting hatred, it would only be necessary to show “recklessness,” which is a much lower bar for prosecution.
There are several lessons to draw from this victory. The first is that going from a bill having overwhelming support in Parliament to being defeated is very impressive, and it shows the efficacy of a high-profile campaign. As long as you have significant allies in Parliament and the media, even if they're in the minority, you can drum up enough notoriety and bad press for a bill to get it defeated.
Secondly, we need to be on guard more than ever before because the fact that this draconian bill passed overwhelmingly through our Parliament initially shows that our politicians either don't care or do not exercise due diligence on these matters. But for now, I would like to congratulate everyone, from ordinary citizens to high-profile business people, senators, TDs, journalists, and political activists who put so much work into defeating this bill.
What we have on our side is conviction and passion. We believe in what we're doing because we understand that free speech is one of the fundamental pillars of constitutional democracy and of the rest of our civil liberties. Without free speech, we cannot have a voice in the public square, defend the truth, or hold politicians accountable. Without free speech, we slide very quickly into authoritarianism, and the rest of our liberties are easily dismantled.
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