TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said the Hate Offences legislation should progress despite pushback from within his own party, however he acknowledged that amendments are needed.
Speaking to reporters on the way into Cabinet this morning, the Taoiseach hit out at Sinn Féin over its u-turn on the legislation.
This week, the party’s justice spokesperson Pa Daly said the bill shound be scrapped despite all Sinn Féin TDs voting in favour of the legislation when it passed through the Dáil in April last year.
Sinn Féin senators did raise issues with the legislation when it was debated in the Seanad in June, particularly around the Government’s refusal to accept amendments.
Speaking today, the Taoiseach said when it comes to Sinn Féin, never has a party “displayed so much cowardice” so quickly.
“This is a party that supported the bill in the Dáil, tried to pretend they didn’t support it in the Seanad when they actually didn’t vote against it anyway. And now all of a sudden because there’s an online campaign of misinformation about it they buckle.”
He added:
These are not the kind of people you want to run the country, quite frankly.
Addressing concerns about the bill itself, the Taoiseach said today he thinks it is misunderstood by a lot of people and that he hopes further debate can be had on it.
“There’s areas around hate crimes, which I don’t think people find controversial that if you injure somebody or murder somebody and you’re motivated by misogyny or racism or homophobia that you get a stiffer sentence. I think that makes a lot of sense,” the Taoiseach said.
“There’s also laws around incitement to hatred and violence. you know, calling people to burn down a building or something or commit a crime against somebody, I don’t think any normal person thinks that that shouldn’t be crime,” he added.
The Taoiseach acknowledged however that there is controversy around areas of the bill that are less clear – for example when a person may have information on their phone that would be hateful and that they have intent to distribute it.
“I know Minister McEntee had already developed a number of amendments to allay some of the concerns that people have from a civil liberties point of view. And I think it is important to listen to those concerns,” the Taoiseach said.
Varadkar said the concerns expressed by the Council of Civil Liberties should be listened to but added that there are people with a totally different agenda that is “one of hate”.
“They are terrified that if this legislation goes through, they’re going to be held to account and they’re the ones we should stand up to,” he said.
Yesterday, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said she hopes to be able to publish her amendments to the bill soon.
This came after Fine Gael TDs Micheal Ring and former Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan both called for the bill to be scrapped.
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