The Irish government is rolling back parts of its controversial hate speech laws that have been criticised by free speech advocates around the world, including the owner of X Elon Musk Who vowed to fight against this law in court.
According to RTE News, Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said that components of the proposed hate speech bill that dealt with inciting hatred or violence have been removed.
The measure would have allowed citizens to be jailed simply for possessing material that criticized certain protected characteristics, from gender identity to national origin. Some critics have compared it to the concept of punishing people for “thought crimes,” a term popularized by George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984.”
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Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X Holdings Corp., speaks at the Milken Institute Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on May 6, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. (Apu Gomes/Getty Images)
The move comes as Ireland heads towards a general election, with the current coalition government fast approaching the end of its five-year term. The date of the election has not yet been announced.
LegislationThe bill, which covers incitement to violence or hatred and hate crimes, has already passed Ireland’s lower house, the Dáil, but was stuck in the upper house, the Senate.
McEntee said most of the bill’s controversial provisions were being removed and legislation aimed at toughening sentences for physical hate crimes would go ahead.
“There is no consensus on the incitement to hatred element (of the bill) so that will be considered at a later date,” McEntee told RTÉ News.
“This will send a very clear message that if you attack a person, commit a crime against a person or a group of people, simply because of who they are, what colour their skin is, where they come from, there will ultimately be harsher sentences,” McEntee said.
“I am adamant that a hate crimes law will be enacted,” he said.
According to RTE News, Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said that components of the proposed hate speech bill relating to inciting hatred or violence have been removed. (Rian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images)
The elimination of incitement contained in the bill is being seen as a partial victory for independent India. speech advocate,
The bill, which seeks to curb hate speech, faced sharp criticism from the government in the lower houses and some in the opposition. Ireland’s main opposition party Sinn Fein voted in favour of the bill but later called for it to be repealed.
According to several online users, the law is deliberately kept vague and suggests that people could be jailed for saving certain memes on their phones or being found in possession of books or videos deemed politically offensive.
Musk helped bring the bill to light globally and promised to pay the legal fees of Irish citizens wishing to challenge the bill.
the billionaire said X existed in Ireland, given that its European headquarters are located in the country’s capital, Dublin. Musk’s group of investors bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion and took the company private.
Conor McGregor celebrates after defeating Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone during a UFC 246 welterweight mixed martial arts bout in Las Vegas on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/John Locher)
“You have to be able to express yourself within the law: without that you don’t have a real democracy,” Musk told Irish media outlet Gript. “We will make sure that if there is an attempt to stifle Irish voices, we will do everything we can to protect the people of Ireland and their ability to express themselves.”
Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor supported Musk’s efforts.
“We, the people of Ireland, will never tolerate any cruel/corrupt bill being passed into law here. We will not tolerate any attempt to subvert our Constitution. freedom of speech “We need to keep our minds clear and engage in fair, honest debate,” McGregor said.
“This is a stupid and feeble attempt to silence opposition opinion and we say NO! If this is attempted to go ahead we will fight it. We will fight it and win. Thank you Alan, as we say in Ireland, fair play!”
Senator Pauline O’Reilly, of the Green Party, a government coalition partner, caused fury by saying the hate speech bill was about restricting freedoms “for the common good”. His speech went viral,
“You will see in our Constitution, yes, you have rights, but they are restricted for the common good. If your views about other people’s identity make their lives unsafe, insecure and harm them so deep anxiety If they cannot live in peace, then I believe it is our job as legislators to restrict those freedoms for the common good.”
Irish government says it is excited to take action on hate speech law After the riots in Dublin in NovemberThe riots broke out after an Algerian-born man was arrested and accused of stabbing a woman and three children outside a primary school in the city. The stabbing came amid concerns about migrant-related crime in the country.
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A bus caught fire on O’Connell Street after violent scenes unfolded in Dublin city centre following a knife attack on Thursday 23 November 2023. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)
“Governments have a responsibility to protect free expression, not stifle it,” said Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF International and author of the book “Censored.”
“In any democracy, there must be room for dissent. Ireland’s draconian proposal to ban ‘hate speech’ — which the government refuses to define — would severely impact the basic human right of free expression in the public space,” Coleman said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“It is clear that wherever ‘hate speech’ laws have been enacted, they have resulted in harsh crackdowns on peaceful expression.”
Coleman argued his point by citing a case from Finland where MP and grandmother Päivi Räsänen was Four years of legal battle And three criminal charges were filed for expressing his faith-based beliefs about human sexuality and posting a Bible verse on X that supported his views.
Fox News’s Brianna Herlihy, Daniel Wallace and Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
