Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2023-07-04
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Peter Fitzpatrick (IND), Louth

The Taoiseach's reply has not allayed my concerns regarding the practicality of the Bill or the prohibition on expression. The Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, acknowledged in February 2022 that “We are pushing up against civil liberties when we do this.” We have already seen buyer’s remorse in the Chamber from Deputies who voted in favour of the hate speech Bill, but afterwards expressed concerns about the far-ranging consequences of some of its provisions. I am concerned that we, as a House, could sleepwalk into voting for an extreme Bill which seriously undermines civil liberties because of a desire to follow trends abroad, where their situations are very different to ours.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-07-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-07-04