A public consultation opens today on government plans to introduce a scheme to disregard historic convictions related to consensual sexual activity between men.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee said the damage that was caused by those laws continues to have a negative impact on too many people’s lives today.
Homosexuality was decriminalised in Ireland in June 1993, when then Justice Minister Maire Geoghegan Quinn steered the Criminal Law Sexual Offences Bill through the Oireachtas.
It had been preceded by a long legal campaign led by Senator David Norris whose case resulted in the European Court of Human Rights ruling that Irish laws on this issue contravened the Convention on Human Rights.
Now the current Justice Minister, Helen McEntee, is considering introducing a scheme to disregard convictions related to consensual sexual activity between men before 1993.
A public consultation is being launched today, and it will inform the final recommendations of a working group considering the issue.
Appealing for people to engage, Minister McEntee said: “We want to ensure that any potential scheme is as effective and accessible as possible so that we can exonerate those impacted by these outdated laws and address some of the lingering harms of the past.”
Govt to review scheme to disregard historic convictions
Source: Viral Trends Report
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