Social Democrats TD P\u00e1draig Rice has welcomed the Minister for Justice\u2019s confirmation that he will bring forward legislation to disregard convictions for consensual same sex activity, before it was decriminalised in 1993.<\/p>\n
Deputy Rice said:<\/p>\n
\u201cLast July, on behalf of the Social Democrats, I co-signed a joint opposition Bill to disregard these historic convictions. That Bill was also signed by Aengus \u00d3 Snodaigh; Ged Nash; Paul Murphy; Roderic O’Gorman; and Catherine Connolly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost 33 years since homosexuality was decriminalised, but some men are still living with the negative impact of criminalisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese arrests and convictions destroyed lives. Even the treat of prosecution had a hugely negative impact on people\u2019s lives and could be used to harass and intimidate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe provision of public services, including HIV-AIDS prevention, were also damaged by these laws.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe State must right the wrongs of the past \u2013 those convictions were a gross violation of gay and bi men\u2019s human rights and did immeasurable damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Minister\u2019s commitment to bring forward an amendment to the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill in March is long overdue and must be honoured. No further delays are acceptable \u2013 we are running out of time for some of these men.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis announcement must also be a part of a suite of measures if we are to have true restorative justice for this community.\u201d<\/p>\n
January 21st, 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Democrats TD P\u00e1draig Rice has welcomed the Minister for Justice\u2019s confirmation that he will bring forward legislation to disregard convictions for consensual same sex activity, before it was decriminalised in 1993. Deputy Rice said: \u201cLast July, on behalf of the Social Democrats, I co-signed a joint opposition Bill to disregard these historic convictions. That […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11561,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[729,642,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lgbtqi","category-padraig-rice","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n