1st July 2025
The LGBT Restorative Justice Campaign calls on the Government to publish a timetable for the introduction of legislation to the Oireachtas that would provide for disregards of the convictions of gay men, prosecuted under the anti-gay legislation repealed in 1993.
“Time is running out for those convicted under anti-gay legislation prior to 1993. We call on the Government to publish a timetable for the legislation, with a date in the early autumn to bring the legislation to the Oireachtas, honouring the commitment given in the Programme for Government and repeated by Minister James Brown in the Seanad today” said Karl Hayden of the LGBT Restorative Justice Campaign.
“It is clear that there is extensive support for legislation to provide for Disregards to those convicted, as evidence by all-party support for today’s private members motion in the Seanad, brought by Senator Fintan Warfield” continued Hayden
“It is now five years since the Government, with unanimous votes in both Houses of the Oireachtas, offered an apology to all those convicted under the laws, and acknowledged the harms done to generations of LGBTI+ people and communities. The urgency attached to introduction and passage of the Disregard legislation cannot be underestimated” said Hayden.
“On a day when videos are circulating of an anti-gay assault on a young person, it remains clear that there is much to do to tackle the legacy of the anti-gay laws and to address the immeasurable harms they continue to do to LGBTI+ people, to which many Senators referred in today’s debate” said Brian Sheehan of the campaign.
“If the Government is serious about addressing the harms done by the anti-gay legislation, it will take a restorative justice approach and have a concentrated focus on passing the Hate Crimes legislation, legislation protection against conversion therapy and developing and passing disregard legislation that recognises those convicted and also those arrested, charged and prosecuted under the anti-gay laws” concluded Sheehan.
ENDS.
LGBT Disregard 