WATCH: Irish Senator Says The Government Is 'Restricting Freedom' Following Conor McGregor's Call To Action After Stabbing

On Monday, Irish Senator Pauline O'Reilly made an impassioned speech on the floor of the nation's legislature to restrict Irishmen's freedom of speech. Her speech comes during an ongoing debate in the small Irish nation around The Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022, which makes it a crime to "possess material that is likely to incite violence or hatred against a person or group." As reported by Human Events, the legislation would provide protections based on race, color, nationality, religion, national or ethnic origin, descent, gender, sex characteristics, sexual orientation, or disability. 

The legislation also drew criticism, given that the mere possession of material that is deemed hateful could lead to up to two years in prison. Section 10(3) of the bill explains that "reasonably assumed that the material was not intended for personal use of the person, the person shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, to have been in the possession of the material." This section of the legislation caused X/Twitter CEO Elon Musk to write, "Language being proposed as law in Ireland means this could literally happen to you for having a meme on your phone."

The bill carries a prison sentence of up to five years and comes after former UFC champion Conor McGregor tweeted in outrage, writing on X/Twitter, "Ireland, we are at war," following the stabbing of three children and a woman by an alleged Algerian migrant in Dublin. "Absolutely horrific scenes all day, my stomach is churning," McGregor wrote. "With no action being taken at all during these ever more frequent events, like literally zero action taken whatsoever, how do we expect an end to this? We need reform. WE NEED ACTION!" Following the stabbing, Dublin erupted into mass riots and looting, which prompted the legislature to take up the hate speech bill.

"When you think about it, all law, all legislation is about the restriction of freedom. That's exactly what we are doing here. We are restricting freedom, but we are doing it for the common good," Irish Green Party Senator O'Reilly said. "You will see throughout our constitution, yes, we have rights, but they are restricted for the common good. Everything needs to be balanced. And if your views on other people's identities go to make their lives unsafe, insecure, and pose them such deep discomfort that they cannot live, then I believe that it is our job as legislators to restrict those freedoms for the common good."

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