09/11/2022
The Irish Times newspaper reports that Ireland’s Parliament, the Dail, will work through a reform of hate crimes laws as a new Bill is proposed by cabinet. The new legislation will repeal and replace the existing anti-discrimination provisions of Ireland and cover incitement to hatred against transgender people for the first time. In addition, the government in Dublin hopes that it will simplify the process of prosecuting hate crimes. At the same time, the paper reports, the authorities will protect freedom of expression in the arts, and political discourse, where non targetted criticism of social groups is concerned. In addition, the new legislation will more clearly define the types of communication or conduct that might incite violence or hatred for hate speech and hate crime, with the Bill set to create a new offence of the condoning, denial or gross trivialisation of genocide and war crime with Ministers told that this includes Holocaust denial.
