Varadkar: Never has a party shown as much cowardice as Sinn Féin
Hate crime law U-turn ‘shows party is not fit to lead’
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has said he has never witnessed ‘so much cowardice’ from a political party as he has from Sinn Féin following its U-turn on support for hate-speech legislation.
The outgoing Taoiseach said the main Opposition party had ‘buckled’ in the face of an ‘online campaign of misinformation’ about the effect the Bill will have.
There has been some opposition to the Bill, particularly in the Seanad, where members raised concerns it will have a ‘chilling
‘It’s misunderstood by a lot of people’
effect’ on free speech and questioned why ‘hate’ is not defined in the Bill. There is also pressure from backbenchers within Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. Fine Gael TDs Michael Ring and Charlie Flanagan have both called for the Bill to be scrapped.
Yesterday, ahead of his final Cabinet meeting as Taoiseach, Mr Varadkar said many elements of the Bill are ‘misunderstood’. ‘When it comes to Sinn Féin, never has a party, in my recollection, displayed so much cowardice on so much issues so quickly,’ he said. ‘This is a party that supported the Bill in the Dáil, tried to pretend they didn’t support it in the Seanad – and they actually didn’t vote against it – and now all of a sudden, because there’s an online campaign of misinformation about it, they buckle. These are not the kind of people you want running your country.’
The Taoiseach said there was a broad misunderstanding of the impact the legislation – which has also been criticised by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties – would have if enacted.
‘When it comes to the Bill itself, it has various elements to it and I think it’s misunderstood by a lot of people, and I hope we can have further debate about it,’ he said.
He said he does not believe the provisions around hate crimes are controversial and he does not believe ‘any normal person’ thinks incitement to violence, such as calling on people to burn down a building, should not be a crime.
The Taoiseach acknowledged controversial elements such as ‘having certain information on your phone that could be hateful’, adding: ‘I know [Justice] Minister [Helen] McEntee had already developed a number of amendments to allay some of the concerns that people have from a civil liberties point of view. I think it is important to listen to those concerns.
‘The concerns I would say we should listen to – and I will be a TD, so will be voting on this – is concerned around civil liberties, particularly around the concerns that the Irish Council for Civil Liberties have expressed around the Bill, and that’s what the legislative process is about, reforming these things. ‘There are people who have a totally other agenda and their agenda is one of hate, and they are terrified if this legislation goes through, that they’re going to be held accountable. ‘They’re the ones we should stand up to,’ he said. Earlier this week, Sinn Féin’s justice spokesman Pa Daly said: ‘This Bill does not have support across the political spectrum – it must be scrapped’. He said this despite the party voting the Bill through the Dáil last April.
Ms McEntee said yesterday legislation was an important part of the Programme for Government and revealed gardaí were telling her the State does ‘not have adequate legislation to deal with hate crimes’.
She added: ‘Despite the suggestion what we are proposing is radical, vague... we are the last country in Europe to have hate crime legislation, we are the last country in Europe to update our incitement legislation.’