Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Very briefly on head 9, I welcome the provision that makes denying genocide an offence. I ask this question on behalf of somebody who has been in contact with me. I wonder about the denial aspect and the free speech aspect that comes with it. Personally, I am satisfied, but is there a concern that this could be extended? The head specifically refers to the definition under Article 11. I am happy with that. The person who has contacted me is wondering if this should be extended, which is a better way to put it, to include misinformation about, for example, vaccinations. I know it is quite a different category. Is there room in this Bill maybe for another head - it would have to be another head anyway - to extend that to cover, for example, misinformation? We use vaccines as an example in the obvious current context. However, at a different time of the year there might be something else going on where misinformation could cause serious harm. Does anybody feel that there is room in this Bill to extend the offences or the context of them to include something like that?