Government accused of ‘cowardice’ for abandoning hate incitement proposals

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

The Government has been accused of “cowardice” over its decision to abandon hate incitement draft laws.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee confirmed on Saturday that parts of the hate speech Bill that would make incitement to violence and hatred an offence would be removed.

She said this was being done because the Government could not get consensus on the proposed legislation.

Politicians have been wrangling over the wording of the Bill, which had aimed to overhaul 1989 incitement to hatred legislation and introduce laws that would make “hate” an aggravating factor in certain offences.

Concerns have been raised around a lack of clarity on the detail of the draft laws, such as what “hate” means and what impact the legislation could have on freedom of speech.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk was among those who opposed the proposed laws, which aimed to modernise Ireland’s legislation around hate-related crimes to better tackle online activity.

Ms McEntee is to propose amendments to the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 at committee stage.

The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 will now not be repealed as incitement proposals are withdrawn, despite Ms McEntee stating that she believed they needed to be updated.

The minister said on Saturday: “We currently have incitement to hatred legislation. I believe it needs to be strengthened, however we need a consensus to do that. We don’t currently have that. So, I am moving forward with the hate crime element of the legislation.”

Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore accused the Government of “cowardice” over the changes to the bill.

“I think it’s cowardice by the government. This has been worked on for years and the fact that now … (as) we’re coming up to an election that they’re afraid to go ahead with this is just unacceptable,” she said on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics programme.

“It wasn’t perfect, but any of the concerns that people had, I think, could have actually been dealt with throughout the debating process, and it could have actually come out with quite a strong piece of legislation.”

Minister of State and Government chief whip Hildegarde Naughton said there were “legitimate concerns” about the Bill and that it was also “about social cohesion”.

“I know people, they’re not racist, they may have legitimate concerns around freedom of speech, expressing their opinions, and it is a difficult space to be in and that’s the job of government – to get this right.

“So, I think what Minister McEntee is doing is very sensible, as she is moving forward with the hate crime legislation, which will increase the sentences that will be given to people who breach the law.”

Sinn Féin TD Eoin O'Broin defended his party’s changed stance on the Bill, going from supporting it in the Dail last year to its justice spokesman Pa Daly calling for it to be entirely scrapped in March this year.

“If you go back into the record, we made clear that our willingness to allow the Bill to go through the Seanad stage was on foot of commitments for the minister that she would tackle the deficiencies of the Bill.”

He said changes to legislation were needed but could be done within the existing incitement to hatred act.