thehostingpool

An Open Letter to Irish Senators Concerning the Hate Offences Bill 7 Dec 2023 Dear Senators, It is now in your hands to either endorse or reject the most significant assault on free speech in the history of the Irish State, and indeed in the recent history of the West. Before signing off on the Hate Offences Bill, you might consider whether you are willing to live with its rather dystopian consequences for civil liberties in Ireland. First, are you ok with a situation in which citizens are criminally liable for the subjective emotional reactions of other citizens to their words? Second, are you ok with a situation in which people cannot speak freely on controversial issues because they don’t know how a prosecutor or judge will interpret the notoriously vague category of speech that could “incite hatred”? Third, are you ok with a scenario in which the Gardaí can raid a citizen’s home and confiscate his computer, not because they suspect it may contain child pornography, plots to overthrow the state, or terrorist plans, but because they have received intelligence that an unpublished article might, potentially, stir up strong feelings about this or that group in society? Fourth, are you ok with a scenario in which employers have to engage in surveillance over their employees’ speech or else face the prospect of being prosecuted under section 13 of the Hate Offences Bill? Fifth, are you ok with a situation in which citizens have to walk on egg-shells in their workplace lest they “misgender” someone or use “inappropriate” language that might be interpreted as liable to incite hatred and therefore might trigger a sanction by their employer, or criminal prosecution by the State? Sixth, are you ok with a situation in which there are “protected” groups in society whose identity is so vague that it is not yet known, because they are defined by “gender,” understood as “the gender of a person or 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”? Seventh, are you happy to see Ireland go down in history, on your watch, as the nation that put in place one of the most draconian pieces of “Black Mirror,” “thought police” legislation in the history of the West? If not, then I beseech you, as a concerned citizen, to oppose this draconian legislation, and to energetically lobby your colleagues to refuse to sign off on this Hate Offences Bill, which is a travesty of law and a stain on the honour of a free and democratic nation. David Thunder davidthunder.com