You couldn't make this stuff up. 5 years ago the government were forcing masks down our throat, now they are climbing over themselves to stop people wearing them.
Clearly, this would tie in nicely with any facial recognition software they incorporate into the bodycams down the line...
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/cabinet-set-to-approve-ban-on-face-coverings-at-protests-1759721.html
All wear them to avoid identification, many to avoid identification by the police but some simply to conceal their identity because if their presence is observed it could cause them issues in their relationships, work or other aspects of their lives.
While ostensibly this law is to identify troublemakers, it won't work since if you're out to cause trouble you will conceal your identity anyway, law or not. The only people who will reveal themselves were not going to cause trouble anyway.
My fear here is the chilling effect it could have on protest. People may not be willing to attend protests for causes they believe in especially if they go against the popular established position due to the difficulty it could cause in their personal or professional lives.
If they think being seen in attendance will cause issues. Perhaps it's a stupid thing to be doing in the first place, and perhaps theres a less stupid way of expressing your support for something.
So stupid that people in this thread are labouring on this comparison.
Within the space of 5 years our inept government felt the need to create two laws - one to force people to wear masks, the other to force people to remove masks. What the masks are used for is irrelevant. What is relevant is that the government need to f**k right off with their nonsense laws and do something actually meaningful for people's lives for once...
If you don't like the rules or the govt you know where the door is. Plenty of places don't have these rules. Some places don't have any rules. If you don't like rules.
So is your issue with masks or with the government? if it is the former Don't do anything illegal & you'll have no need to wear them and just like most of us you wont have any problems. get up early & do an honest days work & then if you have spare time afterwards find a hobby . If its the latter do the same & in your spare time after work find a hobby, join Sinn Fein or people before before profit.
I haven’t read the whole thread , but I think balaclavas have always been outlawed . Fuss about nothing
cos some people who disagree with said protest will often identify somebody and hassle them , their family, employer etc…
doxxing i believe is the term
this is nonsense. absolute tripe.
it never surprises the boards posse that cheer on additional laws to reduce a persons freedom and give more power to the state.
it kinda frightening that I live in a society with people who champion the state to run their lives.
The proposed law says "if requested too" this sounds reasonable.. but that gives the garda blanket power to demand this.
It should only be if a crime is being committed or the garda believes one .
then it would make sense.
But that is the case....
"Anyone wearing a face mask, or any face covering, can be told to remove it once a garda “reasonably suspects” its use is intimidatory or intended to make it easier to commit a crime and avoid detection.
If the request is met by a refusal, the individual will be committing a criminal offence and can be arrested and prosecuted."
New face masks law based on whether a garda ‘reasonably suspects’ criminal intent
https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/2025/05/06/new-face-masks-law-based-on-gardas-suspicion-of-criminal-intent/
You either support Genocide or you don't. How could anyone look at their own children and wish/support others dead.? Oh yeah … wages of sin.
ok cool. i hadnt read the IT version. I am less enraged.
What's tripe is not thinking through optics of the midnight balaclava mob approach.
It's like pulling out a cigarette lighter that looks like a gun in a bank. Its Darwin award worthy.
If someone works for a pro Israeli tech company but wants to attend a pro Palestinian march, maybe their principles / conscience should be telling them to look for an alternative place of employment rather than worrying about hiding their identity.
If you have a mortgage to pay and a family to feed you might not be able to be as high minded as to give up your job.
Well then don't half arsè a semi protest.
Either commit to the cause or don't bother.
That's your dilemma to resolve. Not anyone else's.
If you have the courage of your convictions, show your face.
This is a bit simplistic, isn't it?
It's not hard to imagine a scenario where somebody attending say, a trans rights rally, might want to avoid being identified by people they know in real life. And we could come up with other similar scenarios.
People deveoping these laws should look beyond the narrow lens of just focusing on whether they'll help to catch the scumbags they're trying to catch, and examine such wider potential impacts.
Not really. I don't think so. But then, I don't hide my convictions or my principles behind a mask. Nor would I want to. The whole point of a protest (to my mind) is to be seen. To show support. Not just to "make up numbers" in an anonymous crowd.
If someone "identified" me at a trans rights rally, (or any rally for that matter) and had a problem with me being there, then quite frankly, they can eff off.
By the way, the new proposal doesn't say someone can't wear a mask. (The title of the article in the OP is misleading). Just that they can be asked to remove it by the Gardaí. Which I 100% agree with.
Looking online I can't find any Irish Trans Rally in the middle of the night with balaclavas. Among the thousands in the Irish day trans rallies really struggling to find people in masks.
It's giving the Garda powers to tackle crime. Somehow I doubt they are going to use to it to de-mask people in Patrick's Day Parades.
It's a false equivalence.
It makes no sense to facilitate thousands of crimes because of the possibility a tiny number of people will be embarrassed at a rally. IMO.
I agree that the vast majority of those the Gardai focus on will be those that we want them to focus on.
However, there is always the potential for such wide-ranging powers, and open to such interpretation, to have unintended consequences.
People can at least acknowledge those consequences, even if they feel that they're not important enough to disturb the bill's progress. And these can extend well beyond being 'embarrassed' at a rally.
That's got nothing to with masks. Thats mistaken identity and doxing.
Maybe people can acknowledge this is whataboutery.
Let's worry about the riot squad ripping masks off hordes of Halloween kids when it happens.
The answer to how to identify rioting protestors is to simply douse everybody there with an indelible dye and then the Gardai can pick them up for questioning at their leisure over the next week or so.
It doesn't negate the fact that there are (extreme) people out there who are keen to expose people appearing at protests, and the impacts of that can go far beyond embarrassment. Ireland has such people also.
Anyhow, I've said what I had to say about potential unintended impacts of this bill, so I'll leave it at that.
I really does if you're only example is the mistaken identity and not using a mask. They could do the same thing with AI for someone not even there.
You're getting into highly improbable fringe scenario's. By giving that disproportionate priority it's facilitating misuse of masks for crime and anti social behaviour which is rampant and very nasty and if left unchecked will only get even worse.
But that doesn't take away from your earlier point about Irish people in general begging the government for more laws to bow down to
You always need rules. This forum would not function without rules. The reason you're here is because it functions well.
I think many, many thousands of users would beg to differ on that front...
Would you prefer if it allowed spammers free reign.
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