Councillor Treanor has long been a controversial figure, mainly because he says things about immigration, in very plain language, that more respectable politicians would never dream of saying. That is also, in large part, why he keeps winning elections.
A remarkable reflection, this story, of just how toxic the Trans rights debate (if it can truly be called a debate) has become in the United Kingdom, and how toxic it is slowly becoming here in Ireland. Rosie Duffield is the Labour MP for Canterbury, in Kent. Until now, she’s mostly been famous for winning […]
There was a time, not so long ago, when big tech companies asserted that they were committed to freedom of speech, with reasonable limits on things like inciting hatred, or being overtly racist. If that was true, and all that they did, there would be very little controversy about so-called “big tech censorship”. But of […]
Oh well.
The folks in Cabinet seem puzzled by the public reaction to the news that former Minister Katherine Zappone had asked for, and promptly received, one of those ludicrous positions that are clearly invented to give one of The Deserving Few another job. Zappone had a chat with Minister Simon Coveney, presumably on the special direct-dial red phone reserved for ex-Ministers who want […]
As a rule, Irish media outlets cannot comment on matters that are under consideration in Irish courts. Generally speaking, we shouldn’t comment on matters under consideration in overseas courts, either, but for this story, it is worth making an exception: A LEADING feminist campaigner has been charged with a hate crime for posting allegedly homophobic […]
The job of An Garda Siochána, just like any other police force, is to maintain public order, and to investigate crime. The definition of a crime varies from country to country. In Ireland, for example, soliciting the services of a prostitute is illegal. In Ireland that’s a crime – in the Netherlands, by contrast, it’s […]
Free-speech platform, Parler, posted online at the weekend, with CEO John Matze posting a message to “lovers and haters” “Hello world, is this thing on?” Mr Matze wrote, a week after the site, which some conservatives see as an alternative to Twitter, was taken off line by Amazon Web Services and booted out of Google […]
This is now the fourth draft of this article. It is the fourth draft, because in the first three drafts, I had to be very careful what I said. That is because, in this new world that’s emerged over the weekend, you have to be very conscious, on the right, that you’re arguing with one […]
We have incitement to hatred legislation in Ireland. If what has happened in the past few days is not incitement to hatred, then what is? When you tell a community that they are victims of institutional racism, without any evidence; when you tell a community that one of their members was murdered, without any evidence; […]
The Court of Appeal in Britain has ruled that free speech includes the right to offend, finding that “Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having”. The landmark ruling was handed down in the case of a mother, Kate Scottow, who was arrested in front of her children because she described a trans activist who had […]
The Department of Justice’s new report, titled ‘Legislating for Hate Speech and Hate Crime in Ireland’, recommends the introduction of draconian and expansive hate based laws in Ireland but contains absolutely no recommendations on how to protect free speech and ensure the laws don’t stifle public debate. The report, published last week, will be used […]