The UK governed Ireland until 1922, when the Irish Free State gained independence. Like other countries around the globe that the British Empire once controlled, when they moved on, they left strict Victorian rules and laws they had imposed. In Ireland they had introduced the Offences Against the Persons Act, 1861  which made “buggery” an offence punishable by penal servitude   Under the section “Unnatural Offences”, the Act read: “Whosoever shall be convicted of the abominable crime of buggery, committed either with mankind or with any animal shall be liable … to be kept in penal servitude for life.”

It wasnt until June 24, 1993, that homosexuality was decriminalised in the Republic of Ireland when the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act was passed following a landmark 1988 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Senator David Norris.  The 1993 act was a significant step, although the fight for full LGBTQ+ rights continued, until same-sex marriage was legalized later through a popular vote in 2015.

The new laws, however, came to late for all the men who had been convicted of so-called “homosexual acts” under the old law. According to the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, at least 941 men were convicted of so-called  crimes, though the true figure may exceed 2,000. However the current  Irish government has approved a new scheme that would disregard the convictions of men who were criminalised for consensual same-sex sexual activity prior to decriminalisation in 1993.

The scheme will go before the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament) in March. As many of the men who were convicted have since died, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has said their family members will be able to apply on their behalf to have their convictions disregarded.

LGBT+ Restorative Justice campaigner, Karl Hayden, spoke about the damage caused by Ireland’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws, which criminalised consensual same-sex acts.“These anti-gay laws were not symbolic or dormant,” he said. “They were actively used as instruments of surveillance, punishment, and social control. Men prosecuted and convicted under them faced imprisonment, public disgrace, loss of employment, exclusion from family and community life, and lifelong stigma.

He continued: “For decades, men were criminalised simply for who they loved or who they were. These convictions, rooted in outdated laws introduced under British rule then continued under the newly independent Irish State, inflicted deep and enduring harm on individuals and the wider LGBTQ+ community. It is fitting, if long overdue, that the State now moves to formally correct this wrong through legislation that will ensure these convictions are treated as if they had never occurred.”