Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-23
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Colm Brophy (FG), Dublin South-West

I am pleased to introduce this Bill following its recent passage through Dáil Éireann. It marks a significant step forward in ensuring Ireland's counterterrorism framework is robust and fit for purpose in the face of modern terrorism threats. The Bill will amend the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005, which I will refer to as the 2005 Act and is a cornerstone of Ireland's counterterrorism laws. It will allow for a broader category of prosecutable offences in respect of terrorist activity. These include terrorist acts with a cross-Border element and cyberattacks where the aim is to cause widespread harm.
This legislation is part of Ireland's commitment to bring our terrorism laws into line with other EU member states through participation in the EU's directive on combating terrorism, which the Bill transposes into Irish law. Its passing will also pave the way for Ireland's participation in enhanced EU counterterrorism networks, enabling a co-ordinated and dynamic response to domestic and cross-border terrorist threats. Enactment of the Bill is a commitment in the programme for Government and supports the broader programme commitment to strengthen national security.
Ireland already has comprehensive counterterrorism laws, found in the 2005 Act and the Offences against the State Acts.
The 2005 Act, in particular, represents a response by Ireland to the shared threat terrorism poses across the EU and beyond. Successive EU counterterrorism agreements have been given effect to in Ireland via this Act. This has resulted in a harmonised definition of terrorist offences with our EU counterparts, as well as minimum rules when it comes to sentencing terrorist offences. This provides a benchmark for co-operation and information exchange between national authorities and prevents the existence of legal loopholes that might be exploited by terrorists.
Notwithstanding this, the nature of terrorism continues to evolve and adapt. In 2017, in response to the growing threat posed by people travelling abroad for the purpose of terrorism, the heightened security threat they pose from returning home and the increasing threats from citizens inspired or instructed by terrorist groups abroad, the EU updated its counterterrorism framework with the directive on combating terrorism. This followed concern expressed by the UN Security Council over these threats and an instruction to UN member states to ensure domestic laws were sufficient to prosecute and penalise such activities. The EU's directive on combating terrorism reaffirmed many of the Union's established counterterrorism measures and terrorist offences.
With Ireland having fully incorporated such measures into our national law and practises, it meant that Irish law was already aligned with many of the requirements of the directive. However, new offences were also introduced to tackle the international and cross-border dimension to terrorist threat previously discussed. It remains incumbent on Ireland to now transpose these offences into national law.
Travel for the purpose of terrorism is a new offence the Bill incorporates. This recognises the need to stem the flow of terrorist fighters in and out of the country, both travelling to and from Ireland, for the purpose of committing, aiding or abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of terrorism and for it to be criminalised. The act of organising or facilitating travel for the purpose of terrorism will also be an offence, with the same elements as the same travel offence save for the prohibited act being that of making arrangements to enable any person to travel to or from the State for the purpose of terrorism.
The Bill criminalises receiving training for the purpose of terrorism. This will complement the offences of providing training for terrorism, which is already on our Statute Book. It addresses threats resulting from actively preparing for the commission of terrorist offences, which can be committed by those ultimately acting alone and training through self-study. It can involve receiving in the making of explosives, chemical or biological weapons and other relevant technical expertise. Like with the offence of providing training for terrorism, there will be a ministerial regulation-making power in terms of prohibiting other weapons and techniques that could be part of such training. This means that should new technologies, materials or practices be developed in the future that could be used to carry out terrorist attacks, there is scope to preclude training in their use. Knowledge that the training is for the purpose of committing or aiding and abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of terrorism is required to be convicted of this crime. This means that collecting materials for legitimate purposes, such as academic research, would not be considered to be receiving training for terrorism.
Under our counterterrorism laws, it is an offence to distribute public messages aimed at provoking the commission of terrorist offences. Publicly sharing messages with invitations to join terrorist groups, calls to action or denigrating victims of terrorism is prohibited where such behaviour is intended to and causes a danger that terrorist acts may be committed. In recent years, sophisticated digital messaging tools, including high-quality video, assisted by a network of social media accounts, have allowed for the rapid dissemination of terrorist messaging. This has included videos celebrating or praising horrendous terrorist acts like assassinations and terrorist bombings. This Bill rearticulates the offence of public provocation to commit terrorism to clarify that such provocation can be done by distributing messages that glorify terrorism. Conviction for the offences I have just spoken about can lead to a maximum prison sentence of ten years.
circumstance as an aggravating factor when sentencing offenders. This recognises the particular egregious nature of luring minors into the world of terrorism.
It is acknowledged that the activities these offences prohibit involve commonplace acts, such as travel, study or indeed, the sharing of content on public platforms, which is now widespread and a daily occurrence in our lives. These are acts that, in a free and modern society, we should be at liberty to participate and engage in and enjoy unconstrained when carried out without nefarious aims. This is why the notion of terrorist intention will always be an essential element required to convict someone of the offences in this Bill with the intentional nature of an act inferred from objective and factual circumstances.
For example, it will be necessary to show that the intention was to provoke the commissioning of terrorist acts when publicly sharing messages glorifying terrorism. Furthermore, there must also be reasonable apprehension that the commission of a terrorist activity could, in fact, result.
The Bill will also categorise cyber offences already on our Statute Book as terrorist offences, thereby allowing for extra years to be added to terms of imprisonment for those convicted in circumstances where such acts are intended to cause widespread harm. These are offences of interfering with or damaging data on IT systems, the result of which could be serious damage to the State or international organisations, major economic loss or the creation of a collective danger to the lives of citizens. In recent years, we have seen the destruction and devastation caused by cyberattacks on national infrastructure. These are grave affronts to our society, and it is appropriate that they be treated as terrorist offences. Potential offenders should know that they will meet the full force of law should they proceed to carry out such attacks.
I mentioned that this Bill will pave the way for Ireland’s participation in enhanced counterterrorism networks. Once enacted and when Ireland is fully participating in the EU directive on combating terrorism, which I spoke about earlier, we will be in a position to adopt subsequent EU counterterrorism measures. This includes partaking in a programme of modernisation occurring at Eurojust, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, which co-ordinates investigations and information exchange in relation to cross-border crime across Europe. Its modernisation programme includes strengthening its counterterrorism register and case management system. This means that cross-border links between terrorism investigations and prosecutions will be more easily and readily identified and information more swiftly shared among member states via secure digital communication channels. Ultimately, that will lead to more terrorist acts being prevented and more terrorists being brought to justice.
The Bill also contains a range of technical amendments to the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005. These largely stem from the requirements of the directive that have been inserted to ensure full compliance with it, as well as amendments that restructure certain sections of the Act. The latter do not seek to change the substance of these sections, but, rather, are proposed to enhance legal clarity and precision.
The Bill contains 13 sections and one Schedule. Section 1 simply clarifies that the references to the principal Act relate to the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005, which is being amended here.
Section 2 amends section 4 of the 2005 Act by replacing references to the 2002 EU Council framework decision on combating terrorism with that of the 2017 EU directive on combating terrorism, which will be the new EU governing instrument underlying our international counterterrorism laws once this Bill is passed. This section signposts new definitions for offences found in the later sections of the Bill. This includes definitions for three new offences of receiving training for terrorism, travelling for the purpose of terrorism, and organising or otherwise facilitating travel for the purpose of terrorism. It also signposts the existing offence of providing training for terrorism, which is redefined in the Bill and brings the definition of "terrorist group" into line with that of the directive. The section rephrases the definitions for terrorist activity and terrorist-linked activity, which forms the basis for the offence of engaging in those activities. The rephrasing is in pursuit of legal clarity and precision, particularly in relation to when those activities are committed outside the State, rather than a substantive change to their meaning.
Section 3 provides for a revised definition of the offence of public provocation to commit a terrorist offence, which is an offence already in the 2005 Act, as required under the directive. The revised definition sets out that distributing public messages that glorify terrorist activity can be considered as committing the offence of publicly provoking terrorism. This is in addition to distributing messages that more explicitly encourage terrorism. The definition also requires that other critical elements must be satisfied for the offence to be prosecuted. Those other critical elements are that it must be shown that the alleged offender possessed the requisite intention of inciting persons to commit a terrorist activity. It is also a requirement that the distribution or publication of a message inciting or glorifying terrorism must have given rise to the reasonable apprehension that the commission of a terrorist act would result. These additional elements inserted into the new definition of this offence serve as safeguards to ensure that only those who set about deliberately inciting terrorism are captured by the offence.
Section 4 sets out a new definition for the existing offence of providing training for terrorism and inserts a definition for the new offence of receiving training for terrorism. It also includes a standard provision allowing for the making of ministerial regulations. The power to make regulations is required in order that the Minister may, if deemed necessary, add to the list of prohibited weapons, techniques or methods covered by the "providing" and "receiving" training for terrorism offences.
Section 5 sets out the new offence of travel for the purpose of terrorism and the offence of organising or facilitating travel for purpose of terrorism. These criminalise travel to and from the State for the purposes of committing a terrorist offence, aiding and abetting another person to commit a terrorist offence, or providing training or receiving training for terrorism. They also make it an offence to knowingly organise or facilitate travel for those same purposes.
Section 6 meets the requirement of the directive for fines as a penalty for companies that commit terrorist offences. This specific provision is providing for the offence, and sanction by way of a fine, of a body corporate directing the activities of a terrorist group.
Section 7 relates to a range of amendments to section 6 of the 2005 Act, which is the main terrorist offences section. The first stems from a requirement in the directive to make it an offence to attempt terrorist acts. There are certain terrorist acts, however, that while considered offences themselves, the attempt of such is excluded from being an offence. Attempting to threaten terrorism, attempting to possess explosive substances or firearms for terrorism purposes, attempting to provoke terrorist activity and attempting to organise or receive training for terrorism are not offences under the directive. This is down to the fact that in these cases, the substantive action that is being attempted can be considered an attempt itself, or an otherwise unfinished action in the pursuit of criminal harm. It would be illogical to criminalise attempting to attempt terrorism and a prosecution would invariably fail where the action being charged is too far removed from the actual criminal harm. The amendment thus excludes the attempt of these acts from the ambit of the offence of attempting terrorism in the 2005 Act.
Section 7 also includes a technical amendment to section 6 of the 2005 Act, moving the act of threatening terrorism to within the definition of terrorist activity found earlier in the Act. This is a structural change to how the offence is drafted, as advised by Parliamentary Counsel.
Section 7 also reworks section 6(5) of the 2005 Act, which clarifies that the engagement by a person in any protest, advocacy or dissent, or in any strike, lockout or other industrial action, is not alone a sufficient basis for inferring that the person is committing an act with "terrorist intention". This subsection has been reformulated from its iteration in the 2005 Act to make the wording clearer.
The last aspect of section 7 stems from a requirement of the directive related to co-operation between member states when both may have jurisdiction to bring proceedings against an individual. The directive lays down factors that must be considered when arriving at a conclusion as to where the proceedings will take place, and this amendment lays down those considerations.
Section 8 includes a range of amendments, this time to section 7 of the 2005 Act. In the round, they relate to providing penalties for terrorist offences newly introduced by this Bill - a fine or imprisonment for up to ten years or both - and ensuring that certain minimum sanctioning requirements required by the directive are met. They also ensure that companies can receive fines on conviction of any of the offences under section 6 of the 2005 Act, clarify that penalties for the "attempt" and "threat" offences are linked to the same penalty provisions for the substantive offences being attempted or threatened, and involve a reformulation to the definition of "corresponding offence." The latter definition references criminal offences listed in Schedule 2 of the 2005 Act, the penalties for which are the first step to establishing the penalty for certain terrorist offences under the 2005 Act. The amendment redrafts the definition in the interest of clarity and precision. This section also provides that, when sentencing on conviction for the offences of recruitment to terrorism or providing training for terrorism, a court may consider as an aggravating factor the fact that the offence was committed against a child.
Section 9 relates to section 13 of the principal Act, which deals with the offence of financing terrorism. It enhances this offence provision to meet the requirements of the directive, such as ensuring that it not be necessary that the funds in fact be used to commit terrorist offences nor that the offender know for which specific terrorist offence the funds are to be used when they commit terrorist financing. It also brings the terrorist financing offence within the jurisdictional requirements of the directive.
Section 10 builds on the amendments in section 9 in relation to extra-territorial jurisdiction of the terrorist financing offence in order to meet requirements of the directive. It amends section 43 of the 2005 Act, which relates to proceedings for offences committed outside the State, requiring that the terrorist financing offence, when committed outside the State, may only be proceeded against with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions, as is required for the other terrorist offences in the 2005 Act. It also provides that the State can assert jurisdiction over the offence when committed outside the State in circumstances where the State has refused to surrender or extradite a person suspected or convicted of such an offence to another member state or to a third country. Again, section 43 of the 2005 Act already does this for a range of terrorist offences where the Director of Public Prosecutions consents. However, the terrorist financing offence was not fully encompassed by this, and so the amendment rectifies this gap.
Section 11 replaces the text of the 2002 European Council framework decision on combating terrorism in Schedule 1 with that of the 2017 EU directive on combating terrorism. It also deletes Schedule 1A containing the text of European Council framework decision 2008/919/JHA, which is no longer in force.
Section 12 amends Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the principal Act. Part 1 lists certain offences already on our Statute Book that can be considered terrorist offences in certain contexts and so form part of the definition of "terrorist activity" in the 2005 Act. Section 12 of the Bill provides for the insertion of a new paragraph 6A to this Part, inserting into this list offences under sections 3 and 4 of the Criminal Justice (Offences Relating to Information Systems) Act 2017. The effect of this is that the offence of interference with an information system or data without lawful authority would constitute terrorist activity if intended to seriously intimidate a population, unduly compel a government or an international organisation to perform or abstain from performing an act, or seriously destabilise or destroy the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a state or an international organisation.
Section 13 is a standard provision providing for the Short Title of the Bill once enacted, the collective citation for the Bill and related Acts, and the commencement date. With that, I am pleased to commend the Bill to the House.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-23