When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was being drafted in the late 1940s, it was the Soviet Union and its allies who argued against freedom of speech on the grounds that it would open the door to ‘hateful propaganda’. What they had in mind of course was the undermining of government power by the […]
What a difference a year makes. Here’s the Irish Times’ own Kitty Holland, almost exactly one year ago, approvingly reporting on proposals to introduce a hate speech law: And here’s the Irish Times’ own Kitty Holland an hour ago, reacting to the news that that nice Mr. Corbyn had not achieved a majority for socialism […]
The Department of Justice’ public consultation on reviewing the legislation on hate speech comes to a close on Friday the 13th. (You can make a submission or answer a survey here) No more suitable day for the shambles of a process that it has been. In parallel, the Irish Human Rights Commissioner Emily Logan stated […]
About once or twice a year, the Irish Government and a bunch of friendly NGOs head over to Geneva in Switzerland to report to the United Nations on Ireland’s “progress” in a range of human rights areas. This week, it was the turn of the UN Committee on Racial Discrimination (CERD). The last time Irish […]
JOHN WATERS: “If you don’t give unadulterated praise to certain groups of people, you will be guilty of hate speech” #gript
Before we get in to the rights and wrongs of this, it’s worth looking at what the state’s equality commission believes is a racist comment: “It points to recent examples which have caused it concern, including ….. Galway West TD Noel Grealish’s description of refugees from Africa as “economic migrants” seeking to “sponge off the system here in […]
On Thursday 24 October, the Government formally signalled its intention to introduce draconian hate speech legislation in Ireland. As was the case with many people, I felt a sudden alarm that our fundamental inalienable human right to articulate opinions and ideas was going to be removed, so I took to Twitter to ask people if […]
Is Charlie Flanagan using ‘hate speech’ to clamp down on people’s right to criticise government policy on immigration, sex-education and more? #gript
Charlie Flanagan, the Minister for Justice, is doing a terrible job of balancing the needs of migrants and asylum seekers with the concerns of local communities. The sheer arrogance shown by his Department is extraordinary. They’ve refused to consult with locals before making high-handed announcements about direct provision centres opening in jig time, with everyone […]
It’s remarkable, isn’t it, as a very smart tweeter observed in response to this news, that just a few years ago the great and the good were applauding the power of twitter to facilitate political change on a scale previously unheard of. The Arab spring? Powered almost completely by social media. Barack Obama? The first […]
On Thursday 24th October 2019, the Government launched a public consultation (the “Consultation”) on hate speech laws in Ireland. As part of this Consultation the Government confirmed their intention to consult with members of the public, academics and groups who have experienced hate speech either “personally or seen, read or heard” what they consider to […]
On 9 October 2019, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris announced the introduction of a new working definition for hate crime in Ireland. He stated that this new definition was partly motivated by a concern that hate crime was under reported in Ireland. There are a number of points that are worth noting regarding hate crime in […]