The Government’s hate crime bill has the potential to cause “immense damage” to free speech and democracy in Ireland, according to the former Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland.

Baroness Nuala O’Loan, a member of the House of Lords, has said the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 will create great uncertainty about what constitutes a crime.

Writing in The Irish Catholic this week, Baroness O’Loan said: “For example, it appears that this bill will make it a crime to assert opinions which are likely to result in ‘hatred’ towards people who are biologically male, but who want access to women’s changing rooms and sports because they feel that whilst born male, they are in fact female.

“The maximum penalty for this offence is five years in jail. This bill may be well intentioned, it has a wider application, but it contains some very questionable provisions. It is described as a bill to protect, but it has the capacity to do immense damage to free speech and democracy Ireland,” she said.