Irish Green Party Sen. Pauline O'Reilly defended a controversial bill that could jail citizens for merely possessing material that criticizes gender identity.

The Irish Criminal Justice Bill purportedly targets "hate speech," but some critics have compared it to the concept of punishing people for "thought crime," a term popularized by George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984." 

The text of the "Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022," notes that a person can be imprisoned if they "prepare or possess" material that is "likely to incite violence or hatred against a person or a group of persons on account of their protected characteristics," one of which being "gender" identity. 

The Catholic Herald observed in past months that the legislation could lead to criminalization of Catholic teaching and religious expression in general, "The Catholic Church has long-standing objective positions on issues, which, if they are to be uttered in public (and that may include the pulpit), may cause the priest or other adherent to be made subject to prosecution."

O'Reilly defended the bill in a speech on Tuesday as she debated its merits with her peers, even as she condemned some of their rhetoric on "gender or sexual identities." After suggesting social media has "fueled hatred" and revealed the "dirty, filthy, underbelly of hatred in Irish society," O'Reilly argued that hate speech legislation is merely another necessary law to restrict freedom for the "common good."

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"When one thinks about it, all law and all legislation is about the restriction of freedom. This is exactly what we are doing here," O’Reilly argued. "We are restricting freedom but we are doing it for the common good."

She then suggested that people should not be free to disagree with people’s identities, warning this "discomfort" is a severe hazard.

She continued, "If a person's views on other people's identities make their lives unsafe and insecure, and cause them such deep discomfort that they cannot live in peace, our job as legislators is to restrict those freedoms for the common good."

"One cannot do and say whatever one likes in our society, which is a society governed by laws," she added. "This is very fundamental to a legislative system. It should be one of the very fundamentals for any legislators who sit in this Chamber that they understand what we do is restrict freedoms."

The senator also addressed "gender" directly, claiming that young people in society "are absolutely shocked that we are even having any kind of conversation about what other people's gender is." She claimed that society has had an issue "down through generations," where people "have been fearful about walking outside their door because they are attacked verbally," a process she said that "restricts their freedoms."

She framed the debate about this legislation instead as a debate over "whether we can move forward toward a kinder society."

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Earlier in the debate, Sen. Rónán Mullen noted the hazards of punishing people for questioning something as hotly debated as gender ideology.

"There are about 105 genders listed on the Internet, including agender, acegender, androgyne, apogender, astronomique, cookie gender, gendercat, fluid queer, one that I cannot politely render here, hyperfluid, etc," he noted. "All of this is now being landed in the middle of a criminal law bill where somebody could be attacked for being a hater for stating in robust, but necessarily robust, terms that not only is this nonsense but it is dangerous nonsense that puts children at risk when it is imported into the curriculum of schools."

He followed by listing a series of scenarios that possibly could land a person afoul of the potential law.

"Will mocking memes be tolerated? Will robust campaigning by parents against inappropriate school curricula be allowed?" he asked. "Will carrying a placard stating ‘Men cannot breastfeed’ warrant a hate speech investigation or up to five years' imprisonment, a lifelong label as a criminal hater and all of the stigma and life limitation that goes with that? Nobody actually knows."

The United States Men’s National Soccer Team took on Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals Thursday evening, but their 3-0 victory was bittersweet as the game saw a whopping four red cards and the ref was forced to end the game early due to an unruly crowd.

Four players were ejected in the match, including Americans Weston McKennie and Sergiño Dest and Mexicans César Montes and Gerardo Arteaga. Salvadoran referee Iván Barton also ended the game early after the crowd repeated homophobic chants.

"These are rivalry games. These are derby games. Things like this happen across the world and in no way am I embarrassed," U.S. interim coach B.J. Callaghan said after the game, his first leading the team.

USMNT striker Folarin Balogun, a 21-year-old who made his debut for the squad, said he was "shocked" by the game: "The boys told me it was going to be intense, but I’m definitely still shocked by the events."

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Goals for the U.S. were scored by Christian Pulisic, who had two, and Ricardo Pepi. Mexico had only one shot on goal in the contest.

Pulisic now has 25 goals in 59 international appearances, including four goals against Mexico. It was his first professional start for club or country since April 15.

The game’s second half grew particularly testy, with red cards handed out in the 69th minute, the 71st, and two in the 85th.

In addition to the four red cards, a total of nine yellow cards were handed to players — four to the Americans and five to Mexico.

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The game was halted in the 90th, due to homophobic chants, before the ref resumed the action and signaled an additional 12 minutes of stoppage time.

Barton ended the match in the eighth added minute as the chants resumed.

With the win, the U.S. also extended its unbeaten streak against its southern neighbors to six (three wins, three draws), matching the Americans' longest, from 2011-15.

The USMNT reached its 5th straight CONCACAF Nations League final. They will play against Canada, who defeated Panama 2-0.

Canada won their semifinal game despite having fewer shots on goal, fewer passes and possessing the ball less than their opponents. One red card was given in the game to Panama’s Eric Davis.

Callaghan said after the game that he disagreed with the contentious crowd.

"In terms of the chant, I want to make it very clear first and foremost, for our beliefs and our culture, it has no place in the game," the coach said. "It has no place in our value system."

McKennie and Dest are suspended for the final.

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Tim Weah, a 23-year-old forward for the USMNT said their loss would be "definitely a blow."

"It comes with the game. I know the red cards are definitely a bummer, but it happens," he remarked. "Aggressive match tonight."

Callaghan added: "It comes from a good place. They care about each other so much in that locker room that they're standing up for each other. Sometimes does it have an issue where we take a red card? Yeah, but when you know where it comes from, you can accept it and it's a learning lesson for us."

The CONCACAF Nations League finals will be played on June 18, at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Mexico and Panama will meet in the third-place match.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.