1 July 2025 — The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has published our annual report for our work and finances for 2024. Last year, we witnessed a concerted effort to roll back hard-won progress on civil liberties and human rights, internationally and nationally. ICCL remained steadfast in our vigilant, outspoken and proactive defence of these rights across our four areas of work: administration of justice, equality and discrimination, democratic freedoms and digital rights.
Administration of Justice
ICCL had a number of key achievements in the area of Equality and Discrimination in 2024. Our key achievements were:
- Launched a new Irish Legal Observer Network to monitor Garda conduct at protests nationwide;
- Published Ireland’s first independent review of police reform progress, revealing significant implementation gaps.
- Led public debate on criminal justice reform, advocating for the abolition of the Special Criminal Court, and making recommendations on jury reform and reducing pre-trial detention.
- Secured key policy wins in the Programme for Government, including commitments to reform the Coroner Service, Courts Service and mental health services, as well as ratification of the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT).
Read our 2024 Annual Report
Equality and Discrimination
ICCL had a number of key achievements in the area of Equality and Discrimination in 2024. Our key achievements were:
- The Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act 2024 became law, the culmination of over three years of ICCL-led advocacy as Chair of the Coalition Against Hate Crime. The Coalition was extensively quoted and referenced in Oireachtas debates and reports from 2021 to 2024;
- Safe Access Zones, a key ICCL campaign since 2019, came into effect, ensuring safe, private and dignified access to abortion services;
- Held the State accountable on human rights, briefing the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Council of Europe’s Commission Against Racism and Intolerance during their reviews of Ireland;
- Advanced LGBTI+ rights, beginning work on Ireland’s first Know Your Rights guide for trans and non-binary people and successfully pushing for new LGBTI+ questions in the national census;
- Drove the conversation on racial discrimination in An Garda Síochána with a powerful joint report on policing and racial bias with the Irish Network Against Racism.
Read our 2024 Annual Report
Democratic Freedoms
ICCL had a number of key achievements in the area of Democratic Freedoms in 2024. Our key achievements were:
- The Charities (Amendment) Act 2024 enshrined the “advancement of human rights” as a valid charitable purpose in Irish law for the first time;
- Exposed advocacy restrictions in the community, voluntary and non-profit sector with a landmark report revealing widespread self-censorship among publicly funded organisations;
- Empowered over 200 organisations through the Rochtain programme, providing expert training in political communications and advocacy;
- Led Ireland’s contribution to the European Commission’s annual Rule of Law report, coordinating inputs from civil society and securing key recommendations in the final report;
- Secured commitments to key policy reforms in the Programme for Government, including changes to political party funding, ethics in public office, Electoral Commission support, implementation of the Electoral Reform Act and a review of the Freedom of Information Act.
Read our 2024 Annual Report
Enforce (Digital Rights)
In 2024 Enforce intervened in Europe, Australia and the United States. Our biggest impacts in the year were:
- Victory at Europe’s highest court;
- Based on an Enforce report, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ordered Mobilewalla, a firm claiming to have data from 1.9 billion people’s devices, to stop collecting;
- Assisted U.S. class action that forced Oracle to settle for $115 million and close its ad data business;
- Won continued improvements to new EU artificial intelligence rules;
- Pushed toxic algorithms into the Programme for Government.
Read our 2024 Annual Report