Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-20
============================================================

Mark Ward (SF), Dublin Mid-West

This is needed, particularly given the current global climate. However, the vagueness in this Bill is more likely to lead to abuse by the Government to stamp out political protest, political activism and free speech. Intention and the glorification of terrorism are open to interpretation.
We cannot have a vague Bill and I will outline why. A clause in the Bill could criminalise those of us who wish to commemorate past Irish revolutionaries. Will the Minister commemorate the members of the good old IRA, such as de Valera, Lemass and Collins? Were they not considered terrorists of their time by the British establishment and the British Government? The language of glorifying terrorism contained in the Bill is open to interpretation. This is the language of the DUP, which has sought to criminalise anyone who attends commemorations of loved ones killed in the conflict in the North. I make no apology whatsoever when I attend, and I will continue to attend, commemorations of our patriot dead. It could be equally used against those commemorating the 1916 Rising or even wearing an Easter lily as I am at this moment.
As I said previously when the Bill was being discussed, such laws existed in the 1980s. It is probable that putting up in public a poster of Bobby Sands or Nelson Mandela would be construed as glorifying terrorism. In the recent past, we have seen how Mo Chara from the rap group Kneecap was charged with a terrorism offence for waving a flag while performing on stage. There is no greater oxymoron than "British Government". Kneecap has been a thorn in the side of the British Government because it represents everything the British establishment hates.
The debate on the Bill takes place against a background where there has been across Europe, Britain and America an increase in the use of similar legislation against legitimate political protest, including in relation to Palestine. We cannot ignore this context. The problem is when we insert this kind of provision in law we do not know how it will be used in future. The Minister's assurances that the provision will not be misused does not give any sense of assurance. When I spoke earlier I said that while he may not use this law against Irish people, a future Minister could do so. We do not know who will be sitting in that chair in five, ten or 20 years down the line. There is clearly an attempt to crack down on freedom of speech rather than terrorist activity. Given the direction that Europe is going, we should not allow a diktat from the EU on this or any other issue that impacts on freedom of speech. The section must be opposed because its provisions are authoritarian, uncalled for and open to abuse.

---

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