Top journalist says “draconian” hate-speech bill can criminalise anyone

One of Ireland’s most highly-regarded journalists has said that the Hate Speech Bill currently before the Seanad is a “dangerous and draconian” piece of legislation under which “anyone could be found guilty” because “hate is criminalised without being defined”.

Dr Helen Joyce, formerly Finance Editor and International Editor with The Economist, addressed a briefing for senators in Leinster House yesterday along with barrister Lorcan Price, which outlined concerns about the how the Bill “may operate, against a background of ‘cancel culture’, to curtail legitimate freedom of expression on a range of issues — including on gender-related controversies”.

“When a crime has no definition, anyone can be found guilty. And that’s what’s going to happen if this bill becomes law, because it criminalises “hate” without defining it,” Dr Joyce said.

I’m flying to Dublin to talk to the Seanad (Senate) this afternoon, about the dangerous and draconian Hate Speech bill currently making its way through the Irish parliament. It’s already passed the lower house (Dáil) and is now being presented to the Seanad. 1/7

— Helen Joyce (@HJoyceGender) June 13, 2023

She shared a list of statements with Gript that she said could be considered crimes if the hate speech bill went through, including “men can’t be women – none of them,” and “children should not be given puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones ever.’

Joyce said that statements such as these were “essential to protect people’s rights,” and that they could soon be “criminalised.”

“Among the protected characteristics in this law is “gender”, circularly defines as: ‘The gender which a person expresses as the person’s preferred gender, or with which the person identifies, and includes transgender, and a gender other than those of male and female,’ she earlier tweeted.

“It is likely to criminalise voicing views that risk resulting in “hatred” (remember, there’s no definition of this!) towards male people who want access to women’s changing rooms and sports because they feel female,” she said. “Penalty: up to five years in jail.”

Regarding the gender identity protections in the hate speech bill, Joyce said that “identifying” as a woman was “an entirely male experience.”

“I can’t ‘feel’ like I am a woman, or I was ‘meant to’ be a woman – I just am a woman,” she said. “That’s not hate, it’s just true. And in some circumstances it’s essential to say it.”

Joyce went on to outline that if she could fall afoul of censorship, “anyone can.”

“I had a job at the Economist,” she said. “…I was a finance editor. I’ve interviewed Lula Da Silva. I’ve interviewed Tony Blair. I was as establishment as it comes.”

She added: “If I can end up as a thought criminal, anyone can.”

“It will also be a crime to merely possess material that is “likely to incite violence or hatred against a person or a group of persons”. Unless you can prove that you don’t intend to disseminate that material, it will be presumed that you do intend to do so,” she pointed out.

“This bill is literally Orwellian: it creates an undefined offence of thoughtcrime. As Ireland is the European HQ for most social media companies, it will have huge implications for what is allowable in conversations on trans ideology on social media all across Europe,” she said.

Proud to have spoken at a briefing for senators in my home country. Less proud that the occasion for the briefing is a draconian ban on 'hate', in a poorly drafted and probably unconstitutional bill. I'm afraid Ireland is going to distinguish itself in all the wrong ways https://t.co/462Du20k6K

— Helen Joyce (@HJoyceGender) June 13, 2023

The journalist also addressed a rally outside Leinster House organised by women’s rights group, The Countess, to coincide with the Bill being debated in the Seanad.

Barrister Laoise De Brún, CEO and founder of The Countess Advocacy Group, said the bill was “a dramatic overreach” and urged Senators to amend the legislation.

“The Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 (the Hate Speech Bill) is designed to quash discussion of the impact of gender ideology on women and children and will have profound implications for public discourse in other areas as well,” she said.

“The bill does not provide adequate protections for our right to express ourselves freely, particularly when holding the government to account on its so-called inclusive policies and the fallout for women,” she said.

De Brún went on to say “This legislation will create a chilling effect on the whole of society and stifle what is so badly needed; a healthy debate. It is a dramatic overreach by the Irish Government that no one wants.”

De Brún said the bill signals a move from equal rights for all citizens to “special group rights” because of the creation of protected groups and will create a two-tier system whereby hate crimes that are deemed to be aggravated by hatred towards the protected group will be prosecuted more harshly than other forms of aggravated assault.

“While gender, including gender expression, is included in the bill, sex is not, and this further erodes the rights and protections for women and girls in Ireland,” she added.

“The bill includes a new radical definition of gender into Irish law and yet offers no meaningful explanation of the term or any separation of the characteristics of sex and gender identity.”

De Brún stated that “According to The Countess 2021 Red C poll, most Irish people want the single sex provision of sport, prisons, intimate spaces, and shortlists separated on the basis of biological sex, not gender. And fewer than one in five, only 17 percent, even agree with the gender recognition act at all. This legislation will remove the right to hold or express these mainstream, majority-held beliefs. Not only that, it reverses the burden of proof such that a person will be guilty until proven innocent.”

“Freedom of expression and the presumption of innocence are enshrined in our Constitution, and yet this government is prepared to trample both of these pillars of liberal democracy at the behest of unelected and unrepresentative lobby groups and NGOs.”

De Brún also said, “An Garda Síochána are to be given extraordinary powers of search and seizure until this proposed provision, to remove devices from the home on the basis that they might contain materials that may cause offense, even if the material has never been put into the public domain. This puts having articles or information on your device on a par with suspicion of financial fraud or possessing images of child sexual abuse. It is entirely disproportionate and must be stopped.”