Irish Government says conversion therapy law is “deliverable”

The Irish Government has described its plans for a new law on ‘conversion therapy’ as ‘deliverable’. This is despite eight years of trying and failing to produce viable legislation on the issue.

In its new National LGBTIQ+ Inclusion Strategy II: Action Plan 2025-2026, the commencement of legislation to “ban conversion practices” is put under the heading “Deliverables”.

The Irish Government has previously come unstuck writing a Bill, having attempted to prepare its own Bill after a Private Member’s initiative on the issue in 2018 was deemed legally problematic.

Ambitious?

This is the most ambitious timetable offered since June 2023, when former Equalities Minister Roderic O’Gorman claimed a new law would be passed in 2024. Two years later, no Bill has been drafted.

The former Minister had said he “wanted to make sure it covered quasi-religious practices”, seemingly requiring the State to define what counted as a genuine or ‘quasi’ religious practice.

In truth, many of those calling for a new law say limits must be placed on the ordinary work of churches, especially prayer and pastoral care, not merely some unrecognisable fringe activities.

“Proving Tricky”

The Christian Institute traced the history of Ireland’s continuously stalled efforts in its publication “Proving Tricky”:

In April 2018, a Private Member’s Bill to outlaw ‘conversion therapy’ was introduced into the Oireachtas. The Government wanted to support the legislation but cited legal advice suggesting the Bill was “not clear enough in its language”.

After the Bill fell in 2020, then Equalities Minister Roderic O’Gorman announced his intention to pass a Government Bill by the end of 2023.

But in July 2024, Mr O’Gorman indicated that it was unlikely that a law would be enacted before the next election. Whilst promising to continue to engage with the Attorney General on the matter, he acknowledged that aspects of the new law had proven to be “extremely complex”.

Mr O’Gorman’s claim that “quasi-religious” practices should be prevented, while “necessary conversations” should continue to take place, showed the impossibility of producing workable legal definitions. He commented:

“Balancing those elements is proving tricky in terms of getting those clear legal definitions. We want legislation that is effective and robust and safe from legal challenge.”

At the beginning of this year a new Programme for Government was agreed. It pledged to “advance legislation to ban conversion practices”. It was an open-ended commitment, perhaps signalling remaining legal difficulties with drafting a new law.

The new strategy document suggests there are some within Government who remain wedded to pushing a dangerous pro-LGBT agenda, regardless of the legal reality. It also includes a pledge for “legal recognition” for those who self-identify as ‘non-binary’ and several commitments based on the deeply problematic plans on hate crime.