16th April 2026
A Private Members Bill to disregard historical convictions for consensual same-sex activity will be debated at second stage in the Dáil, this afternoon, Thursday, 16th April.
The Bill first introduced to the Dáil last year by Deputy Aengus O’Snodaigh and supported by Sinn Fein, Labour, Social Democrats, Green Party and People Before Profit recognises the damage that the discriminatory criminalisation of consensual same sex activity between men had on the lives of those convicted of such offences, as well as on the lives of their partners, families, friends and communities
“Today’s Oireachtas debate is a very significant milestone on the road to justice for those men convicted under the State’s anti-gay laws, which were not repealed until 1993” said Karl Hayden of the LGBT Restorative Justice Campaign.
“The Bill recognises that prosecutions of these consensual offences were discriminatory on the part of the State and contrary to the human dignity and human rights of these men. The Biil provides mechanisms for these convictions to be disregarded,” continued Hayden.
At least 1,690 men were prosecuted under the anti-gay laws from 1950 to 1993, with 941 men convicted, according to a recent Oireachtas Library research report. Many more men were prosecuted under the nineteenth century legislation that was carried forwards into the new State in 1922, and enforced vigorously.
There is widespread support across the Houses of the Oireachtas to recognise the harms done under the anti-gay laws, including through the unanimous approval of the State apology in 2018. The Government committed earlier this year to provide for disregards, however the relevant legislation has not yet been published.
“The Bill would remove the lasting penal scars which befell on men convicted for the expression of ordinary intimacy between consenting adults, and which blighted the lives of many of these men. It would finally deliver a measure of redress for the historical injustices they had to endure”, said Brian Sheehan, also from the LGBT Restorative Justice Campaign.
ENDS.
LGBT Disregard 