Harris expects hate-crime legislation will be passed ‘in lifetime of Government’

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

All Irish citizens “have a role” in calling out racism, the Taoiseach has said.

Simon Harris made his remarks as he said he hoped to see hate-crime legislation passed within the lifetime of the Government, with growing expectations that an election will be called in the coming months.

“This is a great country that should never allow our image be distorted by those who are never elected, who generally don’t seek elected office, who – on occasion – hijack our flag and who seek to portray us as we’re not,” he said.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Harris added: “We are a decent, compassionate people and yes, Irish people want to see common sense when it comes to migration.

“Of course, they want all of us in Government to support the work of (Integration Minister Roderic) O’Gorman in terms of moving toward a sustainable system of accommodation.

“Of course, they want to support the Minister for Justice in terms of processing times. All of that taken as it is.

“But we, all of us as citizens, have to start calling out the hate, the ugliness and the racism every time it raises its head.

“And we shouldn’t just do it in a whisper, we should do it loudly and we should do it clearly, because it is not who we are.”

The Taoiseach said Justice Minister Helen McEntee had “worked intensively” on the hate legislation but added that there were “some issues” around making sure that proposals around hate speech in particular did not override the right to freedom of speech.

“Minister McEntee will bring forward amendments shortly in relation to that, but we will legislate for hate crime in this country, and I hope and expect we’ll be able to do so in the lifetime of this Government,” he said.

Mr Harris also said regulator Coimisiun na Mean would put in place a “binding code” this year which would place responsibilities on online media companies about material which promoted illegal activity.