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The planned piece of legislation, which has been dubbed a law against “thought crimes” by its detractors, had until recently been supported by all of the country’s main parties.

But now Sinn Fein has declared that it is “abundantly clear” the bill should not proceed.

Free speech campaigners have chalked this up as a win, while ex-Sinn Fein TD Peadar Toibin has said it shows the party is speaking out of “both sides of its mouth”.

THE BASIC FACTS:

On April 26, 2023, the hate speech bill was voted through the Dail (Ireland’s lower house of parliament) by a colossal 110 votes to 14.

In favour were Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, and The Green Party (the coalition government) plus Sinn Fein, Labour and the Social Democrats (the main opposition parties).

The only opponents were a handful of independents, People Before Profit, and fringe party Aontu.

Whilst it had raised some misgivings in that Dail debate, some time between April and June 2023 Sinn Fein’s approach to the bill began to sour.

During a two-day debate last June 13 and 21 in the Seanad (the upper house of parliament), Sinn Fein senator Paul Gavan said: “There is a need for more robust legislation but in increasing the penalties on prosecution of hate, we cannot restrict free speech for those who are most vulnerable.

"For instance, restrictions on groups campaigning for civil rights and national liberation, especially in regard to Palestine, can be envisaged as arising from the bill as it is currently drafted.”

The Seanad then voted on whether to delay consideration of the bill until Christmastime 2023 amid concern that it was being rushed through.

The two Sinn Fein senators present on June 21 voted to delay it, but the proposal was ultimately defeated by 27 votes to six, so the bill moved on to its next stage (where it is to be debated in a Seanad committee).

Now Sinn Fein has totally reversed its formerly favourable position on the bill.

This came in the form of a statement last night in the name of its justice spokesman Pa Daly (who had personally voted in favour of it in the Dail on April 26).

The statement says: “The government must scrap their hate speech legislation.

"It is abundantly clear that this legislation has been badly thought through and is not fit for purpose. It must not proceed...

“Sinn Fein has raised a number of serious concerns about flaws in this legislation as it has proceeded through the oirecahtas.

"Unfortunately the government has pressed ahead bullishly without taking on board any of the concerns which have been raised by Sinn Fein and others. It is for this reason that we voted against the legislation in the Seanad in June.”

Sinn Fein’s change of position will make it harder to get the law through the Dublin parliament.

If it fails, it will deal a heavy blow to the legacy of Leo Varadkar, who as taoiseach was a driving force behind it.

‘RECKLESS ABOUT HATRED? GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL’:

There is already a “hate speech” law on the Irish statute books: The Prohibition of Incitement To Hatred Act 1989.

It makes it an offence to publish words, images, or sounds that “are threatening, abusive or insulting and are intended or, having regard to all the circumstances, are likely to stir up hatred”.

Breaking this existing law can incur a fine of £10,000 and two years in jail.

The existing law contains a strict get-out clause though: it will not be a crime if the “offender” can show they were “inside a private residence” at the time and had “no reason to believe” anyone outside could see or hear the material.

The new bill has no reference to private residences.

Another big difference is that the existing law also deals with incitement to hatred on the grounds of “race, colour, nationality, religion, ethnic or national origins, membership of the travelling community or sexual orientation”, whereas the new bill seeks to include self-declared gender identity, and more.

The new proposed law is officially called “The Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022”.

The current version (which the Dail approved by a landslide last April) seeks “the prohibition of incitement to violence or hatred against a person, or a group of persons, on account of certain characteristics".

These characteristics are: (A) race, (b) colour, (c) nationality, (d) religion, (e) national or ethnic origin, (f) descent, (g) gender, (h) sex characteristics, (i) sexual orientation, or (j) disability.

Importantly, here is the bill’s definition of gender: "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".

The bill says that if anyone "communicates material”, and is “reckless” about whether that material will “incite hatred”, they can be sent to jail for five years.

If someone is convicted of "condoning, denying or grossly trivialising genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against peace" in a way that “intends” to “incite hatred”, they can be jailed for one year.

And if someone merely "possesses material” which is “not for personal use”, and that material is “likely to incite hatred”, they can be jailed for two years.

(Actually, the wording of the bill goes beyond that, and includes any data held on a server in Ireland, regardless of where in the world the data-user is: full details on that here).

‘THIS IS LIKELY THE BEGINNING OF THE END’:

In the absence of politicians willing to fight against it, much of the opposition to the “hate speech” bill has come from grassroots activists, with progressives and conservatives finding common cause against the bill.

Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson have weighed in against it too.

A term often used by its opponents is “thought crime”.

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has deployed the term, as have many of the main anti-bill social media accounts such as Lawyers for Justice Ireland (LFJI).

This account has almost 22,000 followers on Twitter, and has now tweeted out: “The Hate Speech Bill in its present format has been killed off by the trojan efforts of tens of thousands of Irish people who took a stand against it.

"When LFJI, Natural Women's Council, Irish Education Alliance and Parents Rights Alliance launched our collective challenge to the Hate Speech Bill in May 2023, the response was overwhelming.

"Senators reported record numbers of emails and letters opposing the Bill. It is YOUR actions that have achieved this victory for Ireland.

"Free speech is the oxygen of a democracy. The wins of the people are beginning to come to fruition…

"Sinn Fein know that they are in trouble. They will do and say anything to save themselves from what is coming. Do NOT trust them.”

Meanwhile Free Speech Ireland (which has 20,500 followers) reacted to Sinn Fein’s statement by saying: “Well done to everyone who has been pressuring representatives.

“Support for the Hate Speech Bill is at an all time low! This is likely the beginning of the end for the Bill, at least in its current form.”

And Peadar Toibin (a former Sinn Fein TD, now leader of Aontu) told his 31,000 followers: “Sinn Fein voted for the Hate Speech Bill in the Dail. Aontu was one of only two parties that voted and spoke against it.

"SF are speaking from both sides of their mouth.”

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All of the above comes after Sinn Fein found itself at odds with most of the general public on the question of the recent constitutional referendum.

Sinn Fein – along with all other main political parties – wanted to remove a section praising the value of women’s “duties” within the home, and to alter another bit which said family life is “founded” upon marriage (chapter-and-verse here).

These two changes were defeated by the electorate by 74% and 68%, respectively.

The next day, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald declared that the constitution was “sexist”, and said the issue of changing it could be revisted again in the future.

Sinn Fein perform full u-turn on Republic of Ireland's new 'thought crime' law having previously voted 100% in favour of it

THE BASIC FACTS:

‘RECKLESS ABOUT HATRED? GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL’:

‘THIS IS LIKELY THE BEGINNING OF THE END’: