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1. Source of the legal provision

Section 3 and 3A of the Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act 2024 PT.2 S.6 [No. 41.] Available in the original language via: Houses of the Oireachtas; <https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/act/2024/41/eng/enacted/a4124.pdf>.

2. Legal Provision in English

Section 3 Meaning of protected characteristic (1) In this Act, “protected characteristic”, in relation to a person or a group of persons, means any one of the following, namely— (a) race, (b) colour, (c) nationality, (d) religion, (e) national or ethnic origin, (f) descent, […] (2) In this Act, in relation to the protected characteristics— (a) references to “religion” include references to the absence of a religious conviction or belief, (b) references to “descent” include references to persons or groups of persons who descend from persons who could be identified by certain characteristics (such as race or colour), but not necessarily all of those characteristics still exist, (c) references to “national or ethnic origin” include references to membership of the Traveller community (within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Equal Status Act 2000), […]   Section 3A Aggravation of certain offences by hatred (1) An offence committed by a person is aggravated by hatred for the purposes of sections 6A, 7A, 11A and 18A if— (a) where there is a specific victim of the offence— (i) at the time of committing the offence, or immediately before or after doing so, the person demonstrates hatred towards the victim, and (ii) the hatred is on account of the victim’s membership or presumed membership of a group defined by reference to a protected characteristic, or (b) whether or not there is a specific victim of the offence, the offence is motivated (wholly or partly) by hatred towards a group of persons on account of the group being defined by reference to a protected characteristic. (2) It is immaterial whether or not an accused person’s hatred is also on account (to any extent) of any other factor. […]
  1. d) by the insertion of the following section after section 7:
“Distribution or display in public place of material which is threatening, abusive, insulting or obscene aggravated by hatred 7A. (1) A person shall be guilty of an offence under this section if he or she commits an offence under section 7 which is aggravated by hatred for the purposes of this section. (2) A person who is guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a class C fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both. (3) A person charged with an offence under this section may, if the evidence does not warrant conviction for an offence under this section, be found guilty of an offence under section 7.”, […]  

3. Legal Provision in the original language

Legal provision is in English.  

4. Key Points

  • Ireland has no explicit ban on Holocaust denial. Its recently introduced provision targets hate-motivated crimes by establishing a new set of protected characteristics like race, religion, origin and descent.
  • While the law prohibits hate-motivated crimes, it does not specifically mention the Holocaust, Nazism, or fascism, making its applicability to Holocaust denial unclear.
  • Instead of introducing a new category of crimes, the Bill proposes that hate-motivation will serve as an aggravating factor for crimes committed against an individual with protected characteristics, carrying a penalty of up to six months’ imprisonment and/or a fine.
  • In 2024, the European Commission opened an infringement procedure against Ireland for failing to fully implement the provisions of the EU Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia 2008/913/JHA (hereafter ‘EU FD 2008’), including “the condoning, denial or gross trivialisation of international crimes and the Holocaust”.[1] That procedure remains ongoing.
 

5. Background

The Bill was adopted following a lengthy process in the Irish parliament, which started in 2022.[2] The question of inclusion of specific provisions banning Holocaust denial was also debated. Its proponents argued that the inclusion of banning Holocaust denial should be motivated by the perception that “far-right extremism is threatening to diminish the lessons learned from the Holocaust, with racism and antisemitism on the increase” in Ireland,[3] including “Holocaust denial and distortion”.[4] The second-to-last version of the Bill had a number of specific provisions banning Holocaust and other genocide denial,[5] which were considered to be a testament to Ireland’s commitment to fight these worrying phenomena, with the government signing the UN Human Rights Council pledge to combat anti-Semitism in 2021, and working on a “National Action Plan on Racism”.[6] This was further motivated by the then-Irish government considering the prohibition of genocide denial to be an element of customary international law, and as such wants to bring its legislation in line with its “international obligations”.[7] Shortly before the Bill was passed, the European Commission criticised Ireland for the lack of full implementation of the Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA,[8] opening an infringement procedure that is still ongoing. Ultimately, however, due to a general scaling-back of the Bill, provisions relating to Holocaust denial were entirely removed.[9]

6. Application

The Bill came into effect only on 29 October 2024 and so far it has not been applied in the context of Holocaust denial.

7. Controversies

The Bill has been widely debated and is considered generally controversial in Ireland, with the main criticisms (not related to the prohibition of the Holocaust denial per se) against it coming from the right and far-right who perceive the provisions to be draconian, and underdefined to the point they may be misconstrued by the authorities and generally impact freedom of speech.[10]   While the removal of the provisions on Holocaust denial was not a contentious point in Ireland (just like neither was their inclusion), it needs to be noted that it came at a time of increased tensions between Ireland and Israel, with the latter country taking the decision to close their embassy in Dublin.[11]

8. Further Reading

[1] European Commission, Letter of formal notice: The Commission calls on BULGARIA, ESTONIA and IRELAND to correctly transpose EU law combating racism and xenophobia, 3 October 2024 <https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf_24_4561> accessed 10.02.2025. [2] Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act 2024, House of Oireachtas, <https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2022/105/> accessed 20.12.2024. [3] Liz Dunphy, ‘‘These declarations and acts were hateful and wrong in the 1930s, and remain so today’’ <https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41059682.html> accessed 04.08.2024. [4] INN, ‘Irish PM warns of rise of antisemitism and Holocaust denial’ <https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/366794> accessed 04.08.2024. [5] Article 8, Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act 2022, House of Oireachtas, <https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/bill/2022/105/eng/ver_c/b105c22d-p-c-sent-gr.pdf/> accessed 20.12.2024. [6] LSG, ‘Holocaust denial to become crime under new hate law’ <https://www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/top-stories/2021/10-october/holocaust-denial-to-become-crime-under-new-hate-law–martin> accessed 04.08.2024. [7] Conor Gallagher, ‘Holocaust denial may become an offence under new legislation’ <https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/holocaust-denial-may-become-an-offence-under-new-legislation-1.4440014> accessed 04.08.2024. [8] ILN,  ‘Ireland rapped by EU over law on combating racism and xenophobia’ <https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/ireland-rapped-by-eu-over-law-on-combating-racism-and-xenophobia> accessed 20.12.2024. [9] LSG, ‘Bill on hate crimes passes all stages’ <https://www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/top-stories/2024/october/bill-on-hate-crimes-passes-all-stages/> accessed 20.12.2024, [10] Ian O’Doherty, ‘Ireland’s deeply sinister hate crime bill’ available at: <https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/irelands-deeply-sinister-hate-crime-bill/>. [11] BBC News, ‘Israeli foreign minister calls Ireland’s premier ‘antisemitic’’ <https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0nwd9n9ylo>.
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