Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages Dail Éireann — 2026-05-20 ============================================================ Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South I thank Deputy Ward and Deputy Murphy for their contributions. Deputy Ward wondered whether I had any concern that the definition of terrorist activity or terrorist-linked activity could, in some respect, interfere with and criminalise legitimate protest as we know it. No, we are not in a situation where we have a similar type of laws here, nor would I or the Government ever propose similar type of laws here as those which operate under the terrorist Act in the UK. I think it is section 13 of that Act which makes it a criminal offence to wear an emblem or to display an object which would lead to an reasonable apprehension that the person is a member of or supporter of a proscribed organisation. Nothing near that level is contained within this legislation. I am satisfied that the definitions set out here are appropriate and will not cover what we regard as ordinary, legitimate protest. Deputy Murphy started his contribution by indicating that terrorist activity refers to republicans and the type of terrorism we have in Ireland, and that it does not refer to what is happening in Gaza. Obviously, the Deputy was not here earlier when I emphasised that crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide are already criminal acts under the Irish legal system. They are criminal acts under the International Criminal Court Act 2006 and, more importantly, anyone aiding or abetting those criminal acts is criminalised by the Criminal Justice Act 1997. I am entitled to say there is a distinction between the hierarchy of criminal activity. My view is that the top of criminal activity is genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. That is what I would have at the top of the pyramid of criminal activity, but terrorism is separate from that. The Deputy may want, and is perfectly entitled, to define for the purpose of political narrative what is happening in Gaza as terrorism but for the purpose of our legal system, it is important that we distinguish between terrorist activity and, separately, genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-20/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:47+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-20