Sir, – The timing of the announcement to bring forward legislation to criminalise "hate speech" is very unfortunate ("Sharing hate speech on social media to become criminal offence under new plan", News, December 17th).
We are living through a time when many of the freedoms we take for granted have been seriously restricted for public health reasons. It feels as if the Government, having acquired a taste for implementing authoritarian rules about where we can go and who we can see, feels emboldened to now decide what can be thought and said.
It’s disappointing that the State-funded organisations intended to guard our civil liberties are the ones calling for this legislation.
In her letter of resignation from the New York Times this year, the American writer Bari Weiss noted that Twitter had become that paper’s ultimate editor. In Ireland, it might be argued that Twitter has become our ultimate legislator. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN KITT,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.