Taoiseach Micheál Martin has re-assured a campaigning NGO that his Government is still “committed” to updating Ireland’s hate speech legislation, and said he wants to bring the law into “compliance” with European standards.
The comments were made during an obscure video posted to the Fianna Fáil YouTube channel ahead of the Dublin Pride march last weekend. The clip has very few views, having been seen just 259 times at the time of this article’s publication.
During a 30-minute interview, the Taoiseach was speaking to an activist from the National LGBT Federation, which is a Government-funded NGO. This group is, in turn, part of the Coalition Against Hate Crime – a collection of State-funded groups that campaign for new hate speech laws in Ireland.
Asked about the possibility of Ireland facing action from the European Commission if its laws are not updated, Martin said the issue would be addressed.
“It is in the [National LGBT Inclusion] Strategy that we would update the 1989 Act and modernise it,” Martin said, referring to Ireland’s existing legislation on hate speech.
“…it’s a matter we’ll have to work out and deal with the Commission on. We want to be in compliance with the European framework,” he added.
Martin went on to defend the Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, saying it had been “very far-seeing” for its time, and that the European Commission may not fully appreciate what Ireland had done in this area. However, he acknowledged that the law now likely required reform at this point.
“The 1989 Act probably was undermined a bit in the sense that it probably wasn’t given the credence it deserved,” he said.
“It was a very far-seeing Act back in 1989, when you think of the debate we’re having today. But probably in terms of online and so on, that needs modernisation.”
Later in the discussion, the Taoiseach assured the NGO worker that the Government was “committed” to updating hate speech laws and said he planned to follow up with the Justice Minister on the issue.
“The [National LGBTIQ+ Inclusion] Strategy has committed to a modernisation of that Act,” he said.
The NGO worker replied: “Okay, so that is hopefully sooner rather than later?”
“I’m going to follow this up with the Minister for Justice, yeah,” said Martin.
During the interview, Martin also suggested that the Government had failed to clearly communicate the protections for freedom of speech contained in the Constitution during the debate over the now-shelved hate speech bill.
“Perhaps in clarifying that and articulating that could have done a better job,” he said.
Reacting to the Taoiseach’s remarks, one anonymous Government Minister told Gript that the renewed focus on hate speech law reform was misguided.
“Stick to the Programme for Government and focus on things that really matter to people,” the Minister said.
“Not trying to make laws that infringe on our civil liberties and ultimately making life impossible for Gardaí.”
The Minister added that they did not hear any appetite for the legislation within Government circles, and said the main push had been “under Leo and Helen,” referring to former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and former Justice Minister Helen McEntee.
The hate speech bill proved highly controversial, with critics arguing that it posed a serious threat to free expression. Following widespread opposition, the hate speech provisions were ultimately dropped from the Government’s Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Bill, which passed last year with a focus solely on hate crimes.
Nonetheless, the recently-published National LGBTIQ+ Inclusion Strategy II commits the Government to passing new hate speech and hate crime legislation.
Under the plan’s “Safety” pillar, the Department of Justice and Gardaí are tasked with developing public awareness campaigns “upon enactment of hate crime legislation,” and officers are required to undergo mandatory hate crime and cultural awareness training.
Another Government action point under the same strategy includes a commitment to “enact legislation to protect LGBTIQ+ people from discrimination, harm, and hatred.”
The strategy says these measures are necessary due to “growing push-back on the advancement of LGBTIQ+ equality globally.”
In May of this year, the European Commission warned Ireland that it was failing to sufficiently address hate crime and hate speech. It gave the Government two months to respond, or face being referred to the European Court of Justice.