The same tactics used today as centuries of male oppression

The Government’s monumental defeat in the referendum showed how truly out of touch they were with the Irish people. The aftermath saw many calling for Fine Gael to get back to its Christian democratic roots with critics saying that too much time has been spent appeasing the woke brigade and too little on bread and butter issues.

A good start would be to scrap the proposed ‘Hate Speech’ legislation. While Taoiseach Simon Harris didn’t reference it during his opening speech at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis at the weekend, in recent weeks, he has dismissed calls to abandon the legislation.

He may do well to consider that former Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan, Fine Gael TD Michael Ring, and Fianna Fáil TD, and former Minister for Defense, Willie O’Dea want it to be scrapped. And that Sinn Fein’s TDs, who all voted for the proposed legislation in the Dáil, are now calling for it to be abandoned.

Ridiculous

If any proof was needed that this legislation is ridiculous, we need look no further than our Scottish neighbours (with a similar population to ours) who introduced hate crime legislation on April 1. Their legislation is strikingly similar to what is being proposed in Ireland. Under their new law anyone caught “stirring up hatred” against people with “protected characteristics”, including their gender identity, can face up to seven years in prison.

Within less than the first week of its enactment, the Scottish police have been overwhelmed with over 4000 complaints of ‘hate’. In Simon Harris’s Ard Fheis speech, he did reference a return to law and order, yet if the Scottish experience is anything to go by, our Gardai, who are already overstretched and under resourced, would end up drowning in paperwork because of a law that is as ridiculous as it is unnecessary.

There is also no requirement that comments need to be proven to be likely to cause physical harm to another person”

Ironically, one of the so-called ‘hateful’ things people feel the need to complain to the Scottish police about is the very man responsible for pushing the law, the first minister of Scotland Huma Yousaf, and a speech he made in 2020 where he said that Scotland was “too white”.

Another chilling similarity to Scotland’s new law is that in Ireland you could be prosecuted for what you say in public, or in the privacy of your own home, or for simply possessing material, such as books or a WhatsApp meme that is seen to ‘incite hate’.

Unbelievably, under Ireland’s proposals there is also no requirement that comments need to be proven to be likely to cause physical harm to another person. So, you could be reported to the Gardaí for hurting someone’s feelings.

Transgender

Much of the thrust of both the Scottish and Irish legislation seems to be about protecting a small, but powerful and extremely influential transgender lobby and their ideology.

Author J.K. Rowling, who has been vilified and has received death and rape threats for simply stating biological realities, last week posted a long thread on X where she described some well-known transgender women, like convicted double rapist Isla Bryson, as men. She also mentioned other sex offenders who transitioned to ‘women’ after their prosecution.

She went on to say that a higher value has been placed on men performing their idea of ‘femaleness’ over the rights of actual women and girls. Rowling, acknowledging how her vast wealth in one way insulates her from losing her livelihood, went on to say that: “If they go after any woman for simply calling a man a man, I’ll repeat that woman’s words and they can charge us both at once.”

I hope J.K. Rowling’s courage will divert some from being woke to actually waking up. The vast majority of those hurling vicious abuse and gleefully fuelling a cancel culture of anyone who dares question their orthodoxy are transgender women, i.e. biological men.

There is a new misogyny in town that so many seem happy to ignore, and under the law this tiny minority will be protected, while half the population (women) could see hard fought freedoms and advances being eroded.

Another prominent advocate of free speech has been Irish writer Graham Linehan, he has spoken out against the sterilisation of children in gender clinics and spoke up for the protection of women of have been victimised simply for expressing their opinions. He has been approached by the police on several occasions, been sued, had a West End musical cancelled, and lost most forms of his income because of his views.

We have already seen in this country the stifling impact of groupthink and self-censorship, and this legislation will make things a whole lot worse”

Ireland’s proposed law, like Scotland’s, is incredibly vague – what is deemed ‘hateful’ comes down to an individual’s subjective perception. My idea of debate could be your idea of hate, and those things could change tomorrow or next week, depending on whatever populist narratives are flavour of the day. It is allowing the authorities to police what we can and cannot say, or even think.

The effect will be that people will just keep their mouths shut. We have already seen in this country the stifling impact of groupthink and self-censorship, and this legislation will make things a whole lot worse.

As a Catholic, something I consider one of the most important parts of my identity, rarely a day goes by that I don’t hear something upsetting or offensive to my beliefs. It may not be pleasant but I respect and will defend the right for someone to hold a differing opinion to my own.

Freedoms

A true libertarian will always defend free speech, even if you might not like it, even if it might offend you.

We have to be able to say things like, there are only two sexes, and that sex-based rights should be protected without fear of prosecution. Otherwise we are risking a culture devoid of free speech that will allow the illiberal liberals to push exactly what George Orwell called Big Brother’s “final, most essential command’ – telling you “to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears”.

But for us, a powerful transgender lobby has the ear of the Irish Government, and they seem intent on criminalising any sort of discussion, many trans activists have even adopted the #nodebate on social media. There has been a determined effort to fuel the culture wars without regard for the lives that are destroyed, often using tactics we can recognise from centuries of male oppression of women; violence, threats, intimidation, vilification. This proposed law will bully us into re-defining ‘woman’ to mean every man who says he is one.

I can only hope that watching what is unfolding in Scotland will deter our new Taoiseach from going down this path, and he will do democracy, and free speech, a favour and consign the proposed hate speech legislation to the rubbish bin.

There is a new misogyny in town that so many seem happy to ignore, and under the law this tiny minority will be protected, while half the population (women) could see hard fought freedoms and advances being eroded”