In an RTÉ-commissioned poll on “hate speech” legislation a few years ago, only 19% of viewers said they were in favour of such laws.
The poll ran on Claire Byrne Live and was conducted by Amárach Research in 2017, the year after the Brexit referendum and the election of then-US President Donald Trump. 2017 was also the year of the infamous “Unite The Right” white supremacist rally in Charlotesville Virginia, which made headlines around the world.
At the time, there was significant debate around the alleged rise of “far-right” and “alt-right” political elements, with some arguing that certain forms of supposedly “hateful” public debate had to be curtailed to prevent a rise in political extremism.
However, in the Claire Byrne Live poll, 1,000 adults were asked “Do you support placing limits on free speech to protect people from being offended?”
Most Irish people don't want free speech restrictions – even if it offends some @thejournal_ie https://t.co/EKlyjzuFR2
— Amárach Research (@AmarachResearch) January 10, 2017
In response, only 19% said “yes.” 65% said “no,” and 16% said they “don’t know.”
It does not appear that the program has conducted a similar poll since.
Gript reached out to RTÉ to ask if they had conducted any polling along the same lines in the intervening period and what results were gathered, but has not yet received an answer.
Currently hate speech laws are making their way through the Oireachtas with the Criminal Justice (Hate Crime) Bill 2021.
Speaking of the Bill’s content, Justince Minister Helen McEntee said that “This legislation will be proportionate, specific, and clear. The offences will be capable of being proven beyond reasonable doubt and will be absolutely clear as to what constitutes criminal hate speech.”
One protected category in the bill is by “gender expression,” meaning it is conceivable that “misgendering” someone could be considered a crime, as is the case in the UK and other parts of Europe.
Surrey Police investigation over 'misgendering' tweets https://t.co/A4wDO8ICx5
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) March 20, 2019