Hate speech laws do need to be updated despite being dropped from hate crime bill, Taoiseach says [Video]

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 …