Hate speech Bill delayed until autumn

The controversial hate speech/hate crime Bill is now not expected to return to the Oireachtas before the summer recess, casting doubt on whether it will be enacted before the next general election.

The Bill was paused in the Seanad a year ago when Senators, including Michael McDowell, raised several questions about it, in particular its definition of gender.

Authoritative sources have confirmed that the Bill will not return to the Oireachtas before the summer recess as had previously been indicated. This means it will not return until the autumn at the earliest, narrowing the window for the legislation to be passed before the general election.

Government leaders have repeatedly said they intend for the Coalition to continue in office until the end of its term in March of next year, but few on any side of politics believe that it will last until then, and all parties are preparing for an autumn election. That would make it unlikely that there would be sufficient time to pass the Bill.

There are two parts to the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022. One introduces stiffer sentences for crimes which have displayed hatred against a person on account of their “protected characteristic” – age, disability, race, colour, nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or gender. The second updates the existing incitement to hatred legislation, to make prosecutions easier for communications likely to incite violence or hatred against someone with a protected characteristic.

The Bill passed in the Dáil but stalled a year ago in the Seanad after Senators raised several significant questions about it, not least its failure to define hatred. Mr McDowell also asked the Department of Justice to explain “what is intended by the term ‘transgender’ and the phrase ‘a gender other than those of male and female’” in the definitions of the Bill. He did not receive an explanation.

The Department of Justice has previously declined to give examples of speech which is legal but will be criminalised by the Bill if it is passed.

The Government has said that it will introduce amendments to the Bill, after backbench unease in both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and wider criticism of aspects of the proposed legislation. Taoiseach Simon Harris and Minister for Justice Helen McEntee have said repeatedly that they want to progress the legislation and see it passed, though senior sources in Government say that the hate speech and the less contentious hate crime elements could be separated, with the hate crimes sections progressing and the hate speech elements parked for future consideration.

The Department of Justice says only that it is a priority for the Minister, who intends to bring the Bill back to the Seanad “in due course”.