Ireland ranks highly in freedom rankings but CSOs are concerned over LGBTQI+ and anti-immigrant incidents and surveillance laws

Introduction

In the 2023 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) global press freedom rankings, Ireland is ranked second out of 180 countries. Although Irish broadcasters and media outlets face ongoing financial problems and the government has not proposed any reform of funding mechanisms for news outlets, the general climate for press freedom in Ireland is positive, with journalists able to work freely and without restrictions.

The Freedom House report “Freedom in the World” also gives Ireland a high rating of 97/100, meaning that Ireland is “free” and “a stable democracy where political rights and civil liberties are respected and defended.” However, there are growing concerns about the human rights of marginalised groups. Protests against migrants and incidents targeting LGBTQI+ people have increased across the country. In addition, civil society groups have expressed concern about new laws allowing police to use AI surveillance methods.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), a leading civil society organisation in the country, also expressed concern about the findings of the European “Liberties Rule Of Law Report 2023,” which assesses the state of justice, corruption, media freedom, checks and balances, civic space, and systemic human rights issues in 2022. The report notes that while the Irish government has made progress in the areas of justice and media freedom, the rule of law has declined in several areas, including the civil society framework and systemic human rights issues.

Freedom of association

Irish CSOs support Ukrainian refugees

Irish CSOs, such as the Immigrant Council of Ireland and the Irish Refugee Council, played an important and consistent role in responding to the refugee crisis in Ukraine in 2022, providing information on access to healthcare, job placement and finding accommodation. In 2023, a coalition of Irish and European civil society organisations working in the field of migrant and refugee care continued to advocate for the rights of Ukrainian refugees and called on the Irish government, other national governments and the European Union to strengthen protection and care systems to support Ukrainian children and young people.

Survey on restrictions on advocacy, freedom of association and freedom of expression

In May, ICCL published the first results of a survey of 237 civil society organisations (CSOs) in Ireland, conducted to analyse threats and restrictions faced by CSOs that rely on public financing. 37% of respondents who receive government funding felt they had to limit their advocacy work to protect their funding. A more detailed analysis of the results is underway and a full report will be published on their website in the autumn.

New campaign launched for more affordable housing

In 2023, civil society organisations, students and activists have organised numerous protests to demand more affordable housing. In addition, homelessness in Ireland is at an all-time high, despite the fact that the employment rate in the country is the highest since 1998. In recent years, the Irish have faced a housing crisis due to housing shortages and high rent increases, exacerbated by migration, inflation and the war in Ukraine in 2022 and 2023.

In October 2022, Ireland issued a temporary ban on evictions in response to the housing crisis and the cost of living increase. Since the ban was lifted in April 2023, 5,735 eviction notices have been issued to tenants in the second quarter of this year.

Trade unions, youth movements and housing rights groups launched the “Raise the Roof” campaign in 2019, organising protests in several cities across Ireland to demand affordable and decent housing, quality social housing and security for tenants. The last protest led by this campaign mobilised 1,000 people in the city of Cork in June 2023, demanding the reinstatement of the eviction ban and a rent freeze.

In August 2023, the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) launched a “Scam Watch” campaign to protest against the exploitation of students by landlords and letting agents and to call on the government to develop legislation to control rents and provide affordable housing for students.

Freedom of peaceful assembly

Increasing anti-immigrant sentiments lead to protests and incidents

Since November 2022, there has been an increase in anti-immigrant protests in various Irish cities, fuelled by growing anti-immigrant sentiment, decades of housing shortages, the high cost of living in Ireland and the influx of refugees and migrants from Ukraine and other countries.

While some of these protests were peaceful, others led by far-right groups resorted to intimidation and arson, destroying tents and other accommodation for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

Freedom of assembly in public places is a fundamental right in the Irish Constitution, but it also states that this right is restricted if a demonstrator breaks the law by inciting hatred or committing an offence against public order, such as threatening or abusive behaviour.

According to the Garda Síochána (Irish police), there were 307 anti-immigrant protests by far-right groups in 2022, and by August 2023, 169 protests in Dublin alone were classified as being anti-immigration or against the housing of immigrants in particular areas.

Some of the incidents include:

• In January, hundreds of people from far-right groups blocked traffic and protested outside of a Travelodge in Ballymun which was said to be temporarily housing more than 200 asylum-seekers.
• In February, 300 people demonstrated against the use of an old military base, Columb Barracks in Mullingar, to temporarily house asylum seekers. In March, demonstrators again gathered to block the entrance to Columb Barracks, which was housing over 50 asylum seekers.
• In May, a makeshift migrant camp in Dublin was destroyed by fire after tensions between pro- and anti-migration activists escalated.
• In July, following an announcement that a former school in Cork would be refurbished to accommodate Ukrainian refugees, the building was targeted by protesters and burned down.

In August 2023, authorities reported that anti-immigration protests were in decline after the spike recorded at the end of 2022 and continuing into 2023. At the beginning of 2023, the Garda Síochána reported that there were 10 protest events every week for the first two months of 2023. Smaller protests have been recorded recently, such as one in July attended by 100 people in Ballybrack, South Dublin, where a building was vandalised because it was allegedly being converted to house asylum seekers. Since the beginning of the year, however, the number of protests has dropped significantly, by about two-thirds.

Although this is a positive trend, the Immigrant Council of Ireland is concerned that protests may increase again in the future and called on the government to create an “infrastructure of welcome” in Irish communities to respond to the migration crisis and help communities across the country.

Although anti-immigration protests have been more prevalent, pro-migrant activists and groups have also held protests in support of migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers.

In February, a movement called “Ireland for All” mobilised 50,000 people to a demonstration in Dublin to protest the “recent escalation of anti-migrant demonstrations” and demand “diversity, tolerance and better services”. This movement has continued its protests throughout the year.

Freedom of expression

Artificial intelligence, surveillance, and policing

In 2022, the CIVICUS Monitor reported on two controversial bills whose possible introduction had alarmed civil society. The bills in question are the Garda Recording Devices Bill, which seeks to introduce facial recognition technology as a tool alongside other police surveillance measures, and the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill.

On July 12th 2023, both bills were again considered by the Dáil's Justice Committee in the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament).

The Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill overhauls police oversight, including by transforming the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) into an amended and newly restricted Police Ombudsman. It creates an independent security law examiner to provide independent oversight of “national security” policing.

The ICCL has explained that the Bill “does not provide for a properly independent Police Ombudsman and in fact narrows its remit- in a new departure the Ombudsman will have to notify the Garda Commissioner if they want to search a Garda Station…Gardaí can refuse to share information about national security operations with the Independent Examiner if it will risk ‘international intelligence sources’ – this could be used to avoid oversight, meaning we might never know whether our security forces are violating rights in our name.”

The second bill, the Recording Devices Bill, would expand police access to and use of surveillance and recording devices, such as the use of drones, body-worn cameras and cameras carried by animals, as well as live access to video surveillance by third parties. In addition, the law would allow the surreptitious tracking of vehicles using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) without judicial authorisation.

ICCL and Digital Rights Ireland have submitted an extensive list of amendments to legislators to ensure that privacy, data protection and freedom of expression rights are respected and that recording tools are not used indiscriminately. Among these amendments are that the proposed surreptitious tracking of cars may only be carried out with judicial authorisation and that a section of the Bill be deleted that seeks to amend the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009, which would exempt video cameras capable of recording video footage from the definition of “surveillance device.”

Although the Recording Devices Bill has not been finalised yet, Garda Síochána announced in September that it would pilot the introduction of body-worn cameras before moving to a nationwide roll-out.

Furthermore, the ICCL is concerned about the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) as some body-worn camera footage will be subject to retrospective FRT, which they believe is a significant interference with people’s fundamental rights, as is the use of live FRT. Moreover, this decision comes in a context where the EU has introduced the Artificial Intelligence Act, which includes a complete ban on the use of real-time facial recognition technology in public spaces.

Data protection amendment labelled as “draconian” by Amnesty International

In June, the Oireachtas approved amendments to the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022 that allow the Data Protection Commission (DPC) to “declare almost all of its proceedings confidential” and “prohibit the disclosure of information relating to the handling of complaints, enquiries and investigations that would be classified as confidential to protect the integrity of the investigation.”

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) is the leading authority on data protection in Ireland and beyond, as many big tech companies are based in Ireland. It is tasked with upholding and protecting the privacy of millions of social media users, but also holding big tech companies to account.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that the “amendments are to ensure that the investigation of breaches of GDPR can be investigated effectively and fairly so that robust sanctions can be applied and the privacy of EU citizens protected.”

However, Amnesty International, European Digital Rights (EDRi), the European Consumer Organisation (Beuc) and the ICCL have expressed concerns about the change, believing that the Irish regulator is not doing enough to enforce the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Rasha Abdul-Rahim, Programme Director at Amnesty Tech, said, “this last-minute proposal is an affront to the rights to privacy, freedom of expression and access to information – and will undermine protections for internet users. This amendment, which would unduly limit people’s ability to publicly hold the DPC and Big Tech to account, should be urgently dropped.”

In addition, Noyb, a digital rights group, said the bill was unclear and likely to be unconstitutional and could become a tool to further pressure complainants to speak out against the Irish data protection authority, as the DPC could criminalise anyone who speaks out about pending cases.

New bill against hate speech sparks debate

A new hate speech bill, the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022, has been introduced in Ireland.

If adopted, it would prohibit any “incitement to violence or hatred against a person or a group of persons on account of certain characteristics (referred to as protected characteristics)” and “provide for an offence of condoning, denying or grossly trivialising genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against peace.” The protected characteristics extend to race, nationality, religion, sexual characteristics, sexual orientation, gender and more. The meaning of “gender” in the Bill covers the area of gender identity and includes transgender, intersex and non-binary persons.

CSOs and LGBTQI+ activists have urged the government to move forward with the new legislation. In June, the Coalition Against Hate Crime, a group of leading CSOs in the country, wrote to the Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas) urging them to support the Criminal Justice Bill. The letter states that as of 2023, Ireland is one of the only EU states without hate crime legislation, even though regional and international standards require states to prohibit hate crime by law.

This bill comes in a context where hate speech has increased by 29% since last year, 22% of which was related to sexuality. Moreover, data from the Oireachtas reveals that in 2022, “75% of LGBTI+ people in Ireland have been verbally abused” and “one in three have been threatened with physical violence” due to being due to being a member of the LGBTI+ community. The bill also seeks to address other anti-immigrant, racist, and sexist incidents that have occured.

The proposal has also provoked some backlash, with some fearing that it could restrict freedom of speech and expression. The Bill makes it easier to convict someone for assaulting a person on the basis of hatred for protected characteristics and prosecutors can present the use of insults, gestures, symbols or banners as evidence in such cases. However, while existing provisions against inciting hatred allow for those accused of communicating offensive material to defend themselves by proving they were unaware of its content, or didn’t intend it to be threatening, abusive or insulting, the new law would make them liable for a hate crime regardless of intent.

The ICCL has shared that they generally support the changes as they are “designed to make the law more effective and protect vulnerable groups from attack.” However, they have also stated they are “advocating to strengthen and make more explicit freedom of expression defences in the Bill and advocating against the inclusion of an offence that would criminalise the possession and preparation of material that would incite hatred.”

LGBTQI+ and women’s rights

A rise in anti-LGBTQI+ incidents alarms civil society

In ILGA-Europe’s 2023 Annual Report, which monitors the trends and achievements of European and Central Asian countries in relation to the human rights situation of LGBTI+ persons, Ireland ranks 16th out of 49 countries with a score of 54% in the overall realisation of rights.

One of the main concerns of the report was the number of hate crimes committed against LGBTQI+ persons. This issue has been highlighted in research and other reports by LGBTQI+ organisations.

On 30th August, the organisation LGBT IRELAND published its 2022 Annual Report, in which it described 2022 as a “very difficult year for the LGBTQI+ community both in Ireland and around the world.” It had been “the most violent year for members of the LGBTQI+ community in Europe for a decade, and Ireland was not immune” as the number of anti-LGBTQI+ hate crimes increased.

Here are some of the major incidents that were recorded in the past year:

• In April 2022, two men, Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee, were murdered in separate homophobic attacks in the town of Sligo. In October 2023, the perpetrator received two life sentences for the murders, and another separate 20-year sentence for violently assaulting another victim, Anthony Burke.
• In May 2022, a lesbian couple shared that they faced “intimidation by young and middle-aged men in Dublin” for several months after being physically assaulted by two men at a bus stop.
• In August 2022, a 26-year-old man was assaulted and left with serious facial injuries after an unprovoked homophobic assault on a Dublin bus.
• In March 2023, Grand Parade Library in Cork faced intimidation and verbal abuse from far-right protesters who opposed books containing LGBTQI+ themes and storylines, and some of those books were even destroyed. In April, protesters also demanded the removal of LGBTQI+ books from the children’s section of a Dublin library.
• In June 2023, a gay couple were assaulted, verbally abused and had rocks thrown at them by a group of teenagers in Drogheda.

The main recommendations from the ILGA report for Ireland have been to ban conversion practices and introduce hate crime and hate speech laws and policies for all “bias-motivated crimes based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC)”.

In June, the Irish government announced that it is drafting legislation to ban LGBTQI+ conversion practices that will come into effect by the end of 2023 or at some point in the following year. The government is also in the process of developing legislation to tackle hate speech, as mentioned above, but the Bill is facing delays.

New grassroots group set up to protect transgender young people

A new grassroots movement called Mammies for Trans Rights has been formed by a group of parents to advocate for the rights of trans youth. The reason for this is the “terrible fear, uncertainty and suffering” felt by transgender youth in Ireland and beyond in the face of an increase in violent attacks on members of the LGBTQI+ community. The group has been active at Pride events in various cities in Ireland throughout the summer and protested in Dublin in September against the planned ban on LGBTQI+ books in libraries and anti-trans rights activists.

Government to change outdated references in constitution to support women’s rights

On 8th March 2023, hundreds of protesters marched in Dublin to mark International Women’s Day, demanding government action on a range of issues including safer streets and cities, gender equality and support for homeless women.

On the same day, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar announced that a referendum would be held to remove outdated and problematic references to “women's place in the home” from the Constitution. This decision follows the recommendation of a citizens' assembly, a forum to discuss possible constitutional amendments, in 2021, to replace these references with gender-neutral and non-discriminatory language, in addition to new definitions of family, home and equality.

Article 41.2 of the 1937 Constitution states that “by her life within the home, woman gives to the state a support without which the common good cannot be achieved” and that “mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.”

The constitutional text has already been amended in recent years by referendums to repeal restrictive abortion laws and to allow same-sex marriage.

Although the referendum was supposed to take place in November 2023, the amendments have been delayed and the referendum is now scheduled for the new year.