Irish minister drops hate speech law plans

The Republic of Ireland’s Justice Minister has confirmed she is abandoning plans to introduce new hate speech laws.

Helen McEntee said she still intends to include hate crime in the new legislation.

He will introduce amendments to the committee’s work Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hate and Hate Crime) Bill 2022

The Bill is currently in its third stage in Seanad Éireann (the upper house of the Irish Parliament), where it is being considered section by section and amendments may be tabled.

McEntee told Irish television station RTÉ that she was still “adamant about passing the hate crime bill”.

“There is no consensus on the issue of incitement to hatred, we will deal with it at a later stage,” she said.

She said the message would be sent that “if you attack a person, you commit a crime against a person or a group of people, just because of who they are, what color they are, where they come from, that ultimately you will get a harsher sentence, an even harsher sentence.”

Senator Michael McDowell said he welcomed the changes made to the bill.

“I am very pleased that the Opposition in the Seanad has urged the Government to reconsider and that rank-and-file Government MPs have put pressure on the Government to consider this matter,” he said.

Sinn Féin had called for the bill to be rejected, despite politicians voting for it in the Dáil (the lower house of the Irish parliament) in April last year.

RTÉ reported that Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said they did not support the bill in the Seanad and voted against it in June.

“We have raised serious concerns about this legislation throughout this process and have tabled a number of amendment proposals,” he said.

Mr Doherty said it was time to end the “farce” surrounding the bill.