Date: Fri, 21 Jan 94 12:28 MET From: aree@dg13.cec.be (Alan Fraser Reekie) Subject: Ireland As a contribution to the collection of national data, here is an update on the situation in Ireland (already sent elsewhere as you will see): In the USENET soc.motss collection, I came across the FAQ file with a brief report on the legal status in Ireland before the recent decriminalisation. I thought I would fill you in on the latest developments so that that report could be up-dated. So here is an account of the law-reform story, prepared on the basis of information supplied by GLEN in Dublin and my own records. Incidentally, the Irish reform means that nine out of ten European Union (formerly known as European Community) countries now have non-discriminaatory criminal laws in at least part of their territory (only the former "East Germany", as the West has not yet agreed onthe long-awaited new law). Only the United Kingdom retains a very complicated and discrimiatory criminal law on homosexuality - but moves to make it less discrimiatory are expected shortly. Regards, Alan Reekie Homosexuality decriminalised in Ireland: The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993, which repealed the legislation inherited from before Independence prohibiting all homosexual acts between males, came into effect on 7th July 1993, the day that the Irish President, Mary Robinson, signed it. In this way, the campaign that the Irish gay and lesbian community had started some twenty years earlier finally achieved its objective: the elimination from the criminal law of all discrimination against homosexuality. The new law has been universally welcomed by the Irish lesbian and gay community, notably because it sets the same "age of consent" in the case of penetrative acts, 17 years, for young men as for young women. Unlike the partial decriminalisation adopted in England and Wales in 1967, the new law in Ireland sets no special conditions of privacy or age. As is mentioned below, such restrictions were among the options initially considered by the Irish government. The laws repealed by the new Act were the sections concerning homosexual acts in legislation which had been enacted in 1861 and 1885 when Ireland was part of the United Kingdom and set a maximum punishment of imprisonment for life. However, they have not been enforced for many years in the case of such acts performed by consenting adults in private. The repeal of the legislation enacted more than 100 years ago was made easier because a new law on sexual assault and rape had already been put into effect, and this had been drafted in such a way that it prohibits sexual acts by one man on another in the absence of consent. Strasbourg ruling the stimulus The main stimulus leading to the reform in Ireland came from the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. In October 1988, it found Ireland to be in breach of Art. 8 (privacy) of the European Convention on Human Rights, in the case brought by Senator David Norris who had previously unsuccessfully sought such a ruling through the whole hierarchy of Irish Courts. That ruling by the European Court then provided the initial basis for the law reform campaign, which was however concerned more to ensure that this opportunity should be taken to eliminate all discrimination against homosexuality from the criminal law than merely to achieve a partial decriminalisation rapidly. Although successive Irish governments accepted the need to comply with the European Court's ruling, there was little prospect of action to do so until December 1990, shortly after Mary Robinson had been elected as Ireland's first woman President. As David Norris's legal representative before the European Court, Mary Robinson had clearly shown her commitment to working for this reform, and the Government obviously considered that her election showed that public opinion was now ready for it. However, the government's commitments to submit suitable legislation to Parliament in 1991, and again in 1992, were not in fact honoured. An important development in this context was the recommendation by the Irish Law Reform Commission, in its Report on Child Sexual Abuse published in September 1990, that (s. 4.29): "ss. 61 and 62 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 and s.11 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 1885 which render criminal acts of buggery and gross indecency between males should be repealed and that there should be the same protection against both homosexual and heterosexual exploitation of the young". Coalition Government commits itself to reform The reform of the criminal law on homosexuality was among the matters discussed in the negotiations leading to the formation of the governing coalition of the Fianna Fail and Labour parties in December 1992, and included in the agreed Programme. This provided the opportunity for representatives of the lesbian and gay community to submit its own proposals for reform, and the arguments justifying them. After many years of delay, the initial draft legislation was prepared rapidly by the Department of Justice, which put forward four options, three of which were more or less discriminatory, and thus unacceptable to the lesbian and gay community. As there was relatively little public reaction when they were reported by the media, the Department indicated that it preferred the non-discriminatory option, and the Cabinet approved this choice on 18th May. The debate in Parliament The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 1993 was passed by the lower House (the Dail) on 24th June. Debate on the Bill was curtailed by the Government; it lasted some five hours, spread over two days. The measure was introduced by Ireland's first female Minister for Justice, Maire Geoghegan Quinn, who had decided, after considering various options, to follow the advice of the Law Reform Commission instead of merely making only those changes needed to satisfy the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights. She was widely praised for taking and defending this courageous position. She told the Dail: "What we are concerned with fundamentally in this Bill is a necessary development of human rights. We are seeking to end that form of discrimination which said that those nature it is to express themselves sexually in their personal relationships as consenting adults in a way which others disapprove or feel uneasy about, must suffer the sanction of the criminal law. We are saying... that it is time that we brought this form of human rights limitation to an end." She said that in her consultations, the person who impressed her the most was the mother of a gay man who wanted the law to be changed. She told one Opposition deputy who had argued against the measure that she hoped that none of his three sons would ever have to come to him and tell him that he was homosexual. Parliamentary opposition muted The Bill passed all stages in the Dail without a vote, as none of the parties was opposed to it in principle. Most of the opposition came from within the Minister's own party, Fianna Fail. The main opposition party, Fine Gael, proposed an amendment to raise the "age of consent" from 17 to 18 years. But there was a revolt among the liberal members of this party, who engaged in delaying tactics to ensure that this amendment was never discussed. Three Fine Gael members (including the deputy leader of the party) carried out a "filibuster" by extending the discussion of earlier sections of the Bill during the Committee Stage of the debate. When the time allocated for debate ran out and the Bill was thus agreed without a vote, lesbian and gay campaigners celebrated by opening champagne outside the Parliament building, Leinster House. The Debate in the Senate The Bill completed its passage through Parliament the following week when the Senate debated it on 29th and 30th June. This provided Senator David Norris with the opportunity to speak on the issue for which he had been working for so long. In a typically witty speech, he outlined society's responses to homosexuality through the ages. He said it was indeed a happy day when legislators chose to liberate "the gay community from an oppressive, corrupt and deeply damaging law whose origins are shrouded in the mists of ancient religious practice." However, he said that he could not support the Bill as it stood, because it included other provisions increasing the penalties for prostitution. He said he could not "accept my liberation without a murmur at the expense of the victimisation of another vulnerable group". A member of the main opposition party proposed an amendment that would have set a higher "age of consent" (18 years). But, again this did not represent the general opinion, as only 9 of Fine Gael's 17 Senators supported it. Lesbian and Gay Pride Celebrations By a particularly happy coincidence, the Dail passed the Bill during the annual Lesbian and Gay Pride week. The parade in Dublin, which was attended by about a thousand people, turned into an ecstatic celebration of liberation, in which those who had played leading parts in achieving the reform - including the Minister for Justice, Maire Geoghegan Quinn - were applauded and congratulated. This major achievement is not, however, the only action that is being taken in Ireland to eliminate discrimination, because the coalition Government's programme also includes a general anti-discrimination Bill, which will provide protection against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Furthermore, it is planned to provide similar protection to employees against attempts to dismiss them on such grounds, by amending the Unfair Dismissals Act. An important precedent in this context was set in 1988, when the Incitement to Hatred Act, which makes it an offence to incite hatred or violence against certain groups, was amended at the last minute by including a reference to sexual orientation. __________ Alan Reekie