Sinn Féin’s manifesto had promised to put in place ‘robust’ laws on hate crime

Party under fire for demanding new legislation to be scrapped

Sinn Féin’s manifesto from three years ago vowed to put in place “robust” hate crime laws, but the party has now said the Government’s proposed hate speech legislation should be scrapped.

Its justice spokesperson Pa Daly said the Government has “bullishly” pressed ahead with the laws. All Sinn Féin TDs voted for the legislation in the Dáil last April.

The move on hate speech laws has been seen as a U-turn by the party. Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus voted against criminalising hate speech and hate crimes at EU level in January despite his party colleagues having already voted for Irish hate speech law.

Hewas one of the few MEPs on the left to vote against the law.

A Sinn Féin spokesperson said it “does not believe” that the EU should be “formulating laws on criminal matters”.

“These are matters for the Oireachtas,” they said.

They added that the party has put forward “substantial amendments” through various stages of the legislation being passed through the Houses of the Oireachtas.

“The Government has not listened to any of the very valid concerns about this bill. Sinn Féin, on the other hand, have listened very carefully to the major concerns there are about it and we are calling for it to be scrapped,” said the spokesperson.

Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh said it was “disappointing” that Mr MacManus voted against the proposed laws at EU level.

“This is despite the Sinn Féin general election manifesto including a priority to enact ‘robust hate crime legislation’. We need to see real leadership at a European level to implement laws that protect the most vulnerable across the EU,” she said.

Sinn Féin has now said the laws should be scrapped, as taoiseach-designate Simon Harris faces pressure from former ministers in his own party to get rid of the legislation.

The party’s own 2020 general election manifesto said it was a “priority” for Sinn Féin to enact “robust hate crime legislation”.

The manifesto didn’t go into further detail as to what those laws may look like.

Mr Daly said in a press statement earlier this week that Sinn Féin voted against the proposed Irish laws in the Seanad last June.

“Sinn Féin has raised a number of serious concerns about flaws in this legislation as it has proceeded through the Oireachtas,” he said.

“Unfortunately the Government has pressed ahead bullishly without taking on board any of the concerns which have been raised by Sinn Féin and others. It is for this reason that we voted against the legislation in the Seanad in June.”

Concerns have also been raised by coalition TDs on the lack of a definition of hate in the legislation, which Justice Minister Helen McEntee has defended.

Mr Harris has said the laws would not be scrapped. “I think it is clear that our statute books do require updating in relation to this,” he said.

“I think it is also fair to say that within that space there have been a number of legitimate questions raised by people about the content of the legislation.”

‘Simon Harris faces pressure from former ministers in his own party to get rid of the legislation’