Hate Speech Bill Petition P00022/23 Update

Something you can all get involved in.

Senator Craughwell speaking about our petition in Committee session, March 21st 2024.

On the 21st of March 2024, the petition that the team behind “We The People” organised, was brought before the Oireachtas Committee on Petitions. This meeting was aired live on Oireachtas TV and can be viewed here (skip to the 51st minute). The meeting was chaired by Sinn Fein’s Martin Browne and featured contributions from TD Richard O’Donoghue, Senator Gerard Craughwell and Sinn Fein TD Pat Buckley. All three contributors stated that they were opposed to bill completely in it’s current format and that it should go back through a Seanad round of amendments and from there back to the Dail. We would like to thank all three for registering their opposition to the bill in as this is invaluable pressure that we need every drop of at this crucial stage. The Petition was Discussed in detail after being read out verbatim by Chair Martin Browne TD. What they failed to do however is read out the change of request that was provided during the process of submission. They instead addressed only the initial request which was for a Supreme Court referral by the President. The original text can be read below:

We The People of the Republic of Ireland, demand that in the event the elected President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, be asked by the houses of the Oireachtas to sign into law the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022, or any other variation of such a bill, that he immediately refers this bill, under Article 26.1, to the Supreme Court due to the clear and obvious repugnancy to Article 40.6.1 of the Irish Constitution, as is expected of him as its custodian and also as he is sworn to do by the following oath, which he took on the 11th of November, 2011:

"In the presence of Almighty God I do solemnly and sincerely promise and declare that I will maintain the Constitution of Ireland and uphold its laws, that I will fulfil my duties faithfully and conscientiously in accordance with the Constitution and the law, and that I will dedicate my abilities to the service and welfare of the people of Ireland. May God direct and sustain me."

The Oireachtas committee contributors, dealing only with the initial submission, went into detail how this would be the most dangerous approach to combatting this bill. We are in agreement with their assessment however we need to address the context that this assessment was made in. The contributions that the committee members made were favourable that the bill could pass after amendments have been made, removing the elements of the bill that infringe on free speech. Our position is that the bill passing, in any form whatsoever, would be repugnant to the constitutional principle of free speech.

In our constitutional democracy, legislation cannot scrutinise or reconceptualise the constitution. The legislature simply does not have the right or the power to regulate preferred, mandated, undesired or offensive speech as a matter of social policy. That right is reserved for the people. A neutered or watered down version of the bill would only amount to less repugnancy and we shall oppose this path accordingly. With that said, we will be shifting the focus of the petition to request an alternative route for the bill. Instead we will be requesting that should the bill, amended or not, be sent to the president for signature, that he refuses to sign it, referring it to the people by way of referendum under the mechanism found within Article 27. The Committee outlined that they intend to write back to us with their advice before we proceed. Our updated wording, which will be submitted by way of official response to the committee correspondence, can be read below;

Updated Title: The Will of the People to be Sought  (Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022)

Updated text of request:

"We, the people undersigned, whose right it is in final appeal to decide all questions of national policy, expressing our will through this petition of 10,000 names, are requesting that the powers vested in the Oireachtas under Article 27 are acted upon. We request that a further Presidential petition as described in Article 27.1 is drafted, requesting him to seek "the will of the people" by referendum as per Article 27.5(i) in regards to the (Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022).

We particularly want this route to be pursued as the public consultation process showed that 73% of people rejected the bill. The petitioners undersigned also hold it to be true that this bill is fundamentally repugnant to the constitution. We have identified a breach of Article 40.6.1(i), "The right of the citizens to express freely their convictions and opinions", and that this bill amounts to an unlawful sidestep of our constitution due to the inclusion of an undefined concept of "hate", the Orwellian concept of 'thought crime', a requirement to provide access to privately held information without warrant among other alarming points of contention including the “chilling effect” on robust discourse and debate.  

We want to make it clear what our intentions are, we are redeeming the right to a final say on this matter as per Article 6. Triggering Article 27 is the only way to vindicate this right at this time as the concession of amendments is seemingly still entertained by both Houses. We do not want an amended bill, we want the bill removed in its entirety. We call on the committee to make a representation to both Houses on behalf of the undersigned, expressing our wishes conveyed here, and calling for the bill to be paused until the process outlined has been exhausted to its fullest extent. "

The wording above is still subject to change due to an increased interest in our campaign and the likelihood that senior figures in the free speech movement will have their own opinions and strategies and we are prepared to listen. I hope to discuss this at length with such people in the next 48 hours to finalise this and proceed.

A couple of final points that we want to stress here:

The Dail Committee indicated that the method with which we will discover what is considered hate speech, and what is not, will be be the sacrificing of members of the general public to the jaws of the legal system at the loss of their earnings, their livelihoods, their character and their liberty. Through these sacrifices, the Bill then relies on the ability of said persons to mount a constitutional defence which the legal system recommends you have a sum of 120,000 euro’s to successfully contest, in order to produce a legal precedent. This precedent will likely include a “test” of some sort that requires the courts to consider a list of factors before they decide if somebody is found guilty or not in the lower courts. We find the inclusion of this guinea pig process, as confirmed by Senator Craughwell in committee session, to be an affront to competent and fair law making and a gross failure to vindicate the rights of private citizens. This process, from start to finish, will likely take upwards of two years to resolve and result in an extremely narrow interpretation of “Free Speech”. By that time, hundreds of people will have been dragged through the courts by the vindictive Woke lobby who have already show us what their standard of Hate Speech is. This law if enacted would institutionalise cancel culture and could easily be dubbed the Witch Hunt Act.

The Committee confirmed that if the Dail falls, the Bill falls with it. A massive protest right now against the current reshuffle of the office of Taoiseach, which we should oppose anyway, would be extremely beneficial to us in regards to the bill. They have literally told us this is the case and we would be fools not to pursue that path also.

The Committee, in response to this petition, specifically requested that the general public email their Senators NOW with their wishes for them to end the bill. Below is a full list of Senators emails, please engage in this:

Senators Contact details:

Name: Email:
Garret Ahearn garret.ahearn@oireachtas.ie
Catherine Ardagh catherine.ardagh@oireachtas.ie
Frances Black frances.black@oireachtas.ie
Niall Blaney niall.blaney@oireachtas.ie
Victor Boyhan victor.boyhan@oireachtas.ie
Lynn Boylan lynn.boylan@oireachtas.ie
Paddy Burke paddy.burke@oireachtas.ie
Jerry Buttimer jerry.buttimer@oireachtas.ie
Malcolm Byrne malcolm.byrne@oireachtas.ie
Maria Byrne maria.byrne@oireachtas.ie
Micheál Carrigy micheal.carrigy@oireachtas.ie
Pat Casey pat.casey@oireachtas.ie
Shane Cassells shane.cassells@oireachtas.ie
Lisa Chambers lisa.chambers@oireachtas.ie
Lorraine Clifford-Lee lorraine.cliffordlee@oireachtas.ie
Tom Clonan tom.clonan@oireachtas.ie
Martin Conway martin.conway@oireachtas.ie
Gerard P. Craughwell gerard.craughwell@oireachtas.ie
Ollie Crowe ollie.crowe@oireachtas.ie
John Cummins john.cummins@oireachtas.ie
Emer Currie emer.currie@oireachtas.ie
Mark Daly mark.daly@oireachtas.ie
Paul Daly paul.daly@oireachtas.ie
Aidan Davitt aidan.davitt@oireachtas.ie
Regina Doherty regina.doherty@oireachtas.ie
Aisling Dolan aisling.dolan@oireachtas.ie
Timmy Dooley timmy.dooley@oireachtas.ie
Mary Fitzpatrick mary.fitzpatrick@oireachtas.ie
Eileen Flynn eileen.flynn@oireachtas.ie
Robbie Gallagher robbie.gallagher@oireachtas.ie
Róisín Garvey roisin.garvey@oireachtas.ie
Paul Gavan paul.gavan@oireachtas.ie
Pippa Hackett Pippa.Hackett@oireachtas.ie
Alice Mary Higgins alicemary.higgins@oireachtas.ie
Annie Hoey annie.hoey@oireachtas.ie
Gerry Horkan gerry.horkan@oireachtas.ie
Mary Seery Kearney mary.seerykearney@oireachtas.ie
Sharon Keogan sharon.keogan@oireachtas.ie
Seán Kyne sean.kyne@oireachtas.ie
Tim Lombard tim.lombard@oireachtas.ie
Vincent P. Martin vincentp.martin@oireachtas.ie
Michael McDowell michael.mcdowell@oireachtas.ie
John McGahon john.mcgahon@oireachtas.ie
Erin McGreehan erin.mcgreehan@oireachtas.ie
Rebecca Moynihan rebecca.moynihan@oireachtas.ie
Rónán Mullen ronan.mullen@oireachtas.ie
Eugene Murphy eugene.murphy@oireachtas.ie
Denis O'Donovan denis.odonovan@oireachtas.ie
Fiona O'Loughlin fiona.oloughlin@oireachtas.ie
Joe O'Reilly joe.oreilly@oireachtas.ie
Pauline O'Reilly pauline.oreilly@oireachtas.ie
Ned O'Sullivan ned.osullivan@oireachtas.ie
Lynn Ruane lynn.ruane@oireachtas.ie
Marie Sherlock marie.sherlock@oireachtas.ie
Mark Wall mark.wall@oireachtas.ie
Barry Ward barry.ward@oireachtas.ie
Fintan Warfield fintan.warfield@oireachtas.ie
Diarmuid Wilson diarmuid.wilson@oireachtas.ie

We are nearly there but the reality is this bill has a half-life like none other. We cannot entertain amendments. We must drive a stake through its heart. Please get behind this initiative and lobby the Senators above. Simply click the email link or paste them all into the cc field, type a short message demanding the will of the people is either followed or sought and link this Article.

Regards
The Team at We The People