Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-30
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

It is instructive to us to look at how the 2005 legislation has operated since it was commenced 20 years ago. Many of the issues the Senator highlighted are contained within the 2005 legislation and we have not seen the types of prosecutions the Senator is concerned about, and that neither she nor I wants to see.
The reason for her removing the words "of itself" must mean that she wants other factors to be permissible in terms of the actions of the person concerned. The whole purpose of section 6(5) is to set out that where people are engaged in "protest, advocacy or dissent, or in any strike, lockout or other industrial action", that type of behaviour is excluded from this legislation. That is the whole purpose of saying it. The reason we limit it to that is by the use of the words "of itself". I see no basis for the removal of the words "of itself" other than that the Senator wants other factors to be considered as not constituting terrorist activity as well.
The Senator also mentioned the issue of criminal damage. Obviously, criminal damage under section 2 of the Criminal Damage Act 1991 covers a range of offences. They can be extremely serious offences, particularly in relation to arson and where there is an intent to endanger life or recklessness as to such endangerment.
The Senator used the example of the suffragettes. Even if the suffragettes were involved today or people in a similar position were advocating an equally noble cause, that does not give them the entitlement, nor does it give them a defence, when it comes to criminal behaviour. I will use the example the Senator is concerned about in terms of, say, states that are a breach of international law. Two obvious states that come to mind are Israel and Russia. If somebody decides in Ireland to burn down a property because it is owned by the Russian Government or the Israeli Government, that is still a criminal offence. People cannot do that. They cannot engage in violence for the purpose of advancing their own political purposes. We have learned that in Ireland for many years now. We do not want to go back to a situation where people think it is permissible or acceptable to use violence or engage in terrorist activity for the purpose of achieving their own objective.
If we look at what the Senator is setting out in amendments Nos. 22, 23 and 24, all of them are unnecessary. It should not be the case that people are entitled to engage in terrorist activity if what they are doing is in opposition to a state that is intimidating a population, is in opposition or opposed to a state that is not complying with international law or the offences are against a country involved in war crimes. We cannot have a situation where people are permitted to engage in terrorist activities because they are against an entity that may have engaged in wrongdoing itself.
That is not permissible under our legal system.
I cannot accept the Senator's amendments. I also believe they are unnecessary. If we look at how the legislation has been operated to date in terms of the prosecutions, clearly it has been interpreted and applied in a very cautious and limited fashion. In terms of the new changes that are coming in, which are very similar, I believe they also will be interpreted and applied in a very careful and limited manner. This is not an attempt by the State to generate a whole series of new offences covered by what people are stating publicly or expressing their opinions. As I said to the Senator previously, all of them are protected by the Constitution, the convention and the charter. I cannot accept the amendments.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-30