This is a list of laws, court cases and reports on LGBT rights in Ireland.
An act for the punishment of the vice of buggery 1634
This was an act of the Irish Parliament which copied the Buggery Act 1534 as passed by the English parliament. This act made the death penalty the punishment upon conviction. The act did not define what buggery meant but it was widely understood to mean male to male penetrative sexual acts as well as sexual acts with animals.
Offences Against the Person (Ireland) Act 1829
This act restated that buggery was to be punished by the death penalty.
Offences Against the Person Act 1861
This act updated and streamlined the criminal law of Great Britain and Ireland. It outlawed many forms of practices including 'buggery' or male-to-male penetrative sex. The punishment was life imprisonment or a jail sentence of not less than 10 years. It abolished the death penalty for such acts, which had been law up to this point.
Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885
Commonly known as the Labouchere Amendment. This act outlawed what was termed "acts of gross indecency" between men both in public and in private. The definition was vague and included intimate acts falling short of penetrative sex between two men. Male to male sex was illegal under previous law but it was very narrowly interpreted by the courts. Usually, the courts required that penetration to have occurred for 'buggery' to have taken place. This new act made it much easier to punish the intimate acts of men together. The penalty was a maximum of two years imprisonment. The Irish author and dramatist Oscar Wilde was convicted in England under this act.
Vagrancy Act 1898
This prohibited soliciting or importuning for immoral purposes. It was originally intended as a measure against male to female prostitution, however, in practice, these measures were almost solely applied to male-to-male sex acts.
Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 1912
This allowed flogging to be used as a punishment for existing crimes in regards to sexual offences.
Criminal Law Bill 1921
Proposed to extend the provision criminalising gross indecency between males to gross indecency between females. This bill was dropped due to those who felt that to even criminalise female-to-female sex acts would draw attention to these acts and publicise them. As a result, female-to-female sex acts were legal, unlike male-to-male sex acts.
Norris v. the Attorney General (1980) (High Court) David Norris, later to become a senator for Trinity College, Dublin and presidential candidate, took the Attorney General to the High Court over the criminalisation of male-to-male sex. He argued that the law infringed on his right to privacy to have consensual sex with a man and that since the introduction of the Constitution of Ireland the law passed under British rule became repugnant to the constitution. The High Court ruled against Norris. He appealed his case to the Supreme Court.
Norris v. the Attorney General (1983) (Supreme Court) Having lost his High Court case Norris appealed his case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law by a three to two verdict.
Health (Family Planning) (Amendment) Act 1985
This act legalised the manufacture, sale, and importation of condoms in Ireland. Prior to this condoms were banned under the law. The law was changed to allow condoms in order to help protect the health and lives of gay men during the AIDS crisis.
Norris v. Ireland (1988) (European Court of Human Rights)
Having lost the Supreme Court case Norris took his case to the European Court of Human Rights. The European Court struck down the law criminalising male-to-male sex on the grounds of privacy. It was held that this infringed on the right of adults to engage in acts of their own choice. Irish law was regarded as too narrow and extreme.
Regulations regarding sexual orientation in the Irish Civil Service (1988) These regulations affected the terms and conditions of employment of civil servants. These regulations prohibited discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or if a person was HIV positive.
Prohibition of Incitement To Hatred Act 1989
Prohibited inciting hatred on various grounds including a person's sexual orientation. This was the first piece of legislation to actually provide some protection gays and lesbians.
Video Recordings Act 1989
This act regulates the sale and supply of video recordings. It allows the Censor to suppress videos that are likely to stir up hatred against a person or group of persons on account of their sexual orientation as well as on other grounds.