Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-20
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

I move amendment No. 16:
In page 7, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following:
“Amendment of section 6 of Principal Act
7. Section 6 of the Principal Act is amended—
(a) in subsection (1), by—
(i) the substitution of the following subparagraphs for subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a):
“(ii) attempts to engage in a terrorist activity, other than a terrorist activity consisting of—
(I) a threat referred to in paragraph (c) of the definition of ‘terrorist activity’,
(II) an act that is an offence under section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883 consisting of the unlawful or malicious possession or control of an explosive substance with the intent referred to in paragraph (b) of that section,
(III) an act that is an offence under—
(A) subsection (1) of section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883 consisting of the possession or control of an explosive substance other than for a lawful object,
(B) section 15 of the Firearms Act 1925,
(C) section 26 or 27A of the Firearms Act 1964, or
(D) section 4 of the Chemical Weapons Act 1997,
or
(IV) an act committed outside the State that, if committed in the State, would constitute a terrorist activity to which clause (I), (II) or (III) applies,
or
(iia) attempts to engage in a terrorist-linked activity other than—
(I) public provocation to commit a terrorist offence,
(II) receiving training for terrorism, or
(III) organising or facilitating travel for the purpose of terrorism, or”,
and
(ii) the deletion of subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (a),
(b) the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (5):
“(5) For the purposes of this Act, the engagement by a person in any protest, advocacy or dissent, or in any strike, lockout or other industrial action, shall not of itself constitute grounds for inferring that the person is doing an act with the intention of—
(a) seriously intimidating a population,
(b) unduly compelling a government or an international organisation to perform or abstain from performing an act, or
(c) seriously destabilising or destroying the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a state or an international organisation.”,
and
(c) the insertion of the following subsection:
“(10) The Director of Public Prosecutions shall, when considering in which Member State it would be most appropriate for criminal proceedings to be brought against a person to whom subsection (9) applies, take account of the following:
(a) the Member State where the offence was committed,
(b) the nationality or Member State of residence of the person,
(c) the country of origin of the victim of the offence, and
(d) the Member State in which the person was first arrested for the offence.”.”.
This amendment relates to section 6 of the principal Act, which is the main terrorist offence provision. The first group of amendments to this section aims to insert in section 6(1)(a) two new subparagraphs, which will be sections 6(1)(a)(ii) and 6(1)(a)(iia). These amendments stem from the requirements of paragraph 3 of Article 14 of the directive. This makes it an offence to attempt terrorist acts. There are certain terrorist acts that while considered offences themselves, the attempt at such is excluded from being an offence under the directive. Thus, attempting to threaten terrorism, attempting to possess explosive substances or firearms for terrorism, attempting to provoke terrorist activity and attempting to organise or receive training for terrorism are not offences under the directive. Technical legal reasons can preclude the attempt of these actions from being charged as an offence in and of itself. 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 amendments, thus, exclude the attempt of these acts from the ambit of the offence of attempting terrorism, as required by the directive. This amendment also deletes section 6(1)(a)(iii) of the principal Act. This relates to the offence of threatening terrorist activity. This does not, however, remove this offence from the principal Act. Rather, the offence will now be provided for via the definition of "terrorist activity" in section 4 of the Act, which was discussed previously. This expands the definition to include the threatening of terrorist acts and with engaging in terrorist activity, then codified as an offence in section 6(1)(a)(i). This is a structural change to how the offence is drafted.
This amendment also reworks section 6(5) of the principal 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 the person is committing an act with terrorist intention. That terrorist intention is defined in the Act as aimed at "seriously intimidating a population", "unduly compelling a Government or an international organisation to perform or abstain from performing an act" or "seriously destabilising or destroying the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a state or an international organisation". The amendment does not make any fundamental change to this subsection, but simply reformulates the wording to make it clearer.
It is important to point out that I brought forward the amendment in question on foot of what was stated here in the concerns that individuals expressed. It now expressly provides that for the purposes of this Act, "the engagement by a person in any protest, advocacy or dissent, or in any strike, lockout or other industrial action, shall not of itself constitute grounds for inferring that the person is doing an act with the intention of seriously intimidating a population" or the other tests or definitions for terrorist activity.
The last aspect of this amendment inserts section 6(10) into the principal Act. This stems from the requirement in paragraph 3 of Article 14 of the directive for 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. This amendment lays down those considerations.

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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