Minister for Justice to meet Fianna Fáil politicians raising concerns about new hate speech laws

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee is to meet Fianna Fáil politicians who are raising concerns about proposed new hate speech laws, which will now not be considered again until the next Dáil term.

Fianna Fáil Senators Lorraine Clifford Lee, Robbie Gallagher and Lisa Chambers have all flagged concerns with the controversial Bill and have been told that Ms McEntee will meet them in the coming weeks.

The three Senators confirmed they were expecting the Bill to come back before the Seanad next week, but a Government source pushed back against this and said the Bill was not formally scheduled.

In advance of any such debate, Ms Chambers, the leader of the Seanad, sought a meeting with Ms McEntee about the laws. Ms Chambers confirmed to The Irish Times that the legislation will now not be debated next week, and that she expects to meet the Minister in the near future.

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Given that next week is the last week before the Dáil and Seanad go into recess for the summer, it will now be the next term before the proposals come back before legislators.

It is understood that TD Jim O’Callaghan was asked by members of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party to co-ordinate a joint response to the Bill, with many in the party expressing concern about the scope of the law. It is also understood that some TDs and Senators are experiencing significant push back from the public.

Ms Chambers said she raised concerns around the “lowering of the threshold to bring a prosecution, the expansion of scope of the Bill, certain protected characteristics not being properly defined – in particular gender – and the lack of a definition of hate”.

Ms Chambers is also concerned about the “potential chilling effect on free speech because there is ambiguity of key aspects of the Bill”.

Ms Clifford Lee is understood to be looking for it to be made easier for the crime of genocide denial to be prosecuted, and she is also seeking a specific reference to the Holocaust in the legislation.

The Bill will create new, aggravated forms of certain existing criminal offences such as assault, where those offences are motivated by hatred against people with a “protected characteristic” such as race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or disability.

[ Fears that hate crime Bill will lead to a flood of convictions are unfounded ]

There have been a number of issues raised including around the definition of hatred and the use of a demonstration test of proof in hate crime cases. This test requires that a perpetrator demonstrates hatred towards a member of a protected group or characteristic at the time of an offence being committed.

Critics have also expressed concern about a potential curtailment of freedom of expression.

Ms McEntee has strongly defended the Bill and said there is a clear difference between a person holding an offensive view about a characteristic, and a person directing hate at an individual because of their characteristic.