THE TAOISEACH HAS said he still wants to see hate speech laws updated, despite plans being scrapped from proposed legislation last week.

At the weekend it emerged that Justice Minister Helen McEntee has decided to proceed with proposed legislation relating to hate crime but has dropped the hate speech elements from the bill. The Minister said the decision came down to a lack of consensus among Fine Gael party members on the issue.

The bill is set to proceed only with the elements that deal with hate crime, including providing for higher prison sentences for certain crimes where it is proven that the crime was motivated by hatred or where hatred was demonstrated.

The hate speech legislation, intended to penalise abusive or threatening communication that targeted a person due to their race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, disability, religion or sexual orientation, has been the subject of protest by far-right agitators and conspiracy theorists.

Speaking to reporters in New York last night where the Taoiseach is attending the United Nations General Assembly, Harris said his personal view is that updated hate speech laws are needed but should first be considered by the Oireachtas justice committee.

Laws already exist on hate speech in Ireland but the government’s bill proposed to strengthen the legal recognition of hatred in the criminal justice system.

“On balance, the stage we’re at in the political cycle, and indeed, reflecting the fact that there had been a number of concerns raised around freedom of speech in the balance, we’ve decided to go ahead with the hate crime because I believe we can realistically get that passed in the lifetime of this government,” the Taoiseach said today.

When asked what his personal view is on the need for such legislation, Harris said: “My personal view is exactly the same as the Minister for Justice, that we’re right to pass the legislation with hate crime, we do need to strengthen legislation on hate speech, and I agree fully with Helen in relation to that, but I also agree with her that we do need to see if we can create some level of consensus around this.”

He said there were two issues with getting the bill passed in its initial form.

Firstly, that people had “genuine concerns” in relation to freedom of speech and “getting the balance right”.

But secondly, that some politicians played “absolute, blatant flip flop politics” with the issue “by voting for it in the Dáil and then campaigning against it online”.

“We have a law on the books already. It is out of date, though, and does need to be updated,” Harris said.

Jane Matthews reporting from New York.