Freedom of Expression is protected under Article 40.6.1 of the Irish Constitution which provides that, subject to public order and morality, the State guarantees liberty for the exercise of:- “the right of the citizens to express freely their convictions and opinions”.

On the 24^th of October 2019, Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanaghan and Minister for Equality, Immigration and Integration, David Stanton, launched a public consultation on hate speech with a view to updating the existing law under the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989. During this announcement, the Minister for Justice also noted that hate speech laws were only one element of a wider suite of measures being developed by the Irish Government to “address hatred and intolerance, including the development of hate crime legislation”.

Professor Jordan B. Peterson said: – “The problem with regulating Hate Speech, it’s very simple, who defines Hate? Answer to that is, over any reasonable period of time, exactly the people you would least want to have define Hate. And so, the consequences of the regulation become incalculably worse as a problem, than the problem they were designed to deal with. To think otherwise is to think in a sort of Utopian manner.”

The right to free expression is an inalienable human right and it underpins all other human rights, such as the right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience, Religion, Association and Assembly – this is what makes Freedom of Expression so important.

At the ICHR, we believe that the introduction of legislation which seeks to interfere with the inalienable right to Free Expression to be an unjust and immoral intrusion into individual freedoms.

The Right to Peaceful Assembly is protected under Article 40.6.1.ii of the Irish Constitution which provides that, subject to public order and morality, the State guarantees liberty for the exercise of:- “the right of the citizens to assemble peaceably and without arms”.

This fundamental right, which affords every citizen of the State the freedom to peacefully dissent, has been under threat for several years, with the Irish Government signalling their wish over the past couple of years to introduce “Protest Exclusion Zones” or areas deceptively labelled “Safe Zones” to limit where free citizens may peacefully assemble and express dissent. The many who see the introduction of such “Safe Zones” as justifiable, fail to recognise that if the Irish Government can introduce such “Safe Zones” for one type of protest, they can introduce “Safe Zones” for all types of protests.

Furthermore, through the introduction of Health (Preservation and Protection and Other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act, 2020, the right to meet peacefully has been suspended indefinitely by the Irish Government under the guise of the common good until a time at which the Irish Government sees fit to reinstate this right.

At the ICHR, we find the erosion of this fundamental freedom to be of particular concern.

Freedom of Thought, Belief and Religion is protected under Article 44 of the Irish Constitution which provides that:- “the State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God. It shall hold His Name in reverence, and shall respect and honour religion. Freedom of conscience and the free profession and practise of religion are, subject to public order and morality, guaranteed to every citizen.”

During the year 2020, under the Health (Preservation and Protection and Other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act, 2020 the Irish Government have made it a criminal offence for citizens in the state of Ireland to attend at public worship and they have further made it a criminal offence for any minister of religion to hold a public religious ceremony (with the exception of funerals and weddings), noting that any breach of these laws by ministers of religion would open them to a fine of up to €2,500.00 or 6 months in prison.

At the ICHR, we believe that the introduction of legislation which seeks to interfere with the right to the free profession and practise of religion to be an unjust and immoral intrusion into individual freedoms.

The Right to Private Property is protected under Article 43.1.1 of the Irish Constitution which provides that:_ “The State acknowledges that man, in virtue of his rational being, has the natural right, antecedent to positive law, to the private ownership of external goods.”

The Irish Constitution, however, at Article 43.2.1, also acknowledges that these rights ought to be regulated by the “principles of social justice”, meaning that the State may pass laws limiting your right to private property in the interests of the common good. The most common form of limitation to the ownership of private property, currently operational in the State, is taxation on ownership, transfer and inheritance.

At the ICHR, we believe that the individual has a right to ownership of private property and we would consider it unjust for the Irish Government to limit ones right to private property based on their definition of the “common good”.

The ICHR believes the right to private property is constantly under threat, but in the year 2020 it is under substantial threat due to the proposed Thirty-Ninth Amendment to the Constitution (Right to Housing) Bill 2020, which proposes:-

“3 1  The State, in particular, recognises the common good as including the right to secure, affordable, dignified housing, appropriate to need, for all the residents of Ireland and shall guarantee this right through its laws, policies and the prioritisation of resources.

3 2 The State, accordingly, shall delimit the right to private property where it is necessary to ensure the common good and to vindicate the said right to housing for all residents of Ireland.”

At the ICHR, we believe that this Bill is repugnant to the Constitution and should this Bill become law, the Irish Government shall attain the right to take your property and redistribute it as they deem appropriate.