Two Fianna Fáil TDs have called for the government to abandon its Hate Speech law, after Friday’s referenda were resoundingly defeated.
Fianna Fáil TDs Wille O’Dea and John McGuinness have both broken ranks with their party leadership over its support of proposed hate speech legislation.
It follows reports that Finance Minister, Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath, has indicated that the government is set to proceed with its hate crime legislation, despite calls for it to be paused.
RTE’s Political Correspondent Paul Cunningham reported on Monday that Minister McGrath said:”Government has made commitments… We shouldn’t ignore the reality that there is a problem in parts of society, particularly on social media, and we don’t want to be a country that is tolerant of people inciting hate.”
He said: "Government has made commitments… We shouldn't ignore the reality that there is a problem in parts of society, particularly on social media, and we don't want to be a country that is tolerant of people inciting hate ."
— Paul Cunningham (@RTENewsPaulC) March 11, 2024
Limerick TD O’Dea took to Twitter on Monday, telling his party to “stop playing to the woke gallery,” explicitly mentioning the hate speech bill.
“Focus on housing, health, and law & order, and stop playing to the woke gallery. Start listening to the people, stop talking down to them and stop listening to the out of touch Greens & NGOs #Referendum2024,” Mr O’Dea posted on x, formerly Twitter.
Fianna Fáil needs to get back to basics & abandon the Hate Speech Bill etc. Focus on Housing, Health and Law & Order and stop playing to the woke gallery. Start listening to the people, stop talking down to them and stop listening to the out of touch Greens & NGOs #Referendum2024
— Willie O'Dea (@willieodeaLIVE) March 11, 2024
Fianna Fail TD John McGuinness later appeared on Newstalk’s The Hard Shoulder programme on Monday, saying he agreed that the Hate Speech law should be abandoned.
Asked if he agreed with Deputy O’Dea’s sentiment, and if it was time to abandon the Hate Speech Bill, and focus on things like housing, healthcare, and law and order, Deputy McGuinness responded:
“Yeah, it is,” he said. “And this has been said before at parliamentary party meetings. So it’s not as if it’s not being said, or as if it’s being said arising from the referendum. What’s happening here is that the leadership of government and the parliamentary parties are tone-deaf to the issues that they are hearing being raised in the Dail chamber and at parliamentary party meetings.
During the interview, he told host Kieran Kuddihy he had voted No/No on Friday. Prior to the vote, Deputy McGuinness spoke to Gript about his reasons for voting no, saying he had been convinced by the arguments made by former Attorney General, Senator Michael McDowell.
In an exclusive interview with Gript, Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness says Senator Michael McDowell's arguments convinced him to vote ‘No’ in the upcoming referendums, and that State-funded campaigning NGOs were at risk of skewing the result.https://t.co/hzYdZtdjUO
— gript (@griptmedia) February 27, 2024
“I made it perfectly clear before polling day that that’s what I was doing,” he said, adding: “I voted no because I didn’t see any reason for having the referendum. They were poorly explained. There was no discussion; there was a guillotine in relation to pre-legislative scrutiny in the context of the Dail and committee work.”
“The leadership, then, was given by Michael McDowell – and he gave clear, concise reasons why the people should vote no. And i was touched by those various interviews that he did, and I was happy to support the No campaign.”
Asked whether he was swayed by arguments made by TDs in his own party, the Kilkenny TD said:
“They didn’t make any argument, that’s the point. They put the wording before the citizens for their view on it; for them to vote on it. But they didn’t spell out why they were doing this. For example, in relation to taking women or the mother out of the Constitution, they never explained the consequences of that; of their actions.
‘HUGE DAMAGE IN TERMS OF GOVERNMENT TRUST’
“They put in the word in the Care [referendum] about strive. Well, there’s no need to strive – just wait until Budget Day and give carers the recognition they deserve. This was a complete cock-up by government, and each of the parties are to blame for this.
“There was no need to spend €20 million in a referendum, quite frankly. And I think they’ve done huge damage in terms of government trust, and so on. But they’ve exposed themselves as well, as to how far they will go, in their arrogance, to get what they want.”
Asked that if he was talking about the government’s collective arrogance, that would mean “quite a few” Fianna Fail TDs, Mr McGuiness agreed, stating, “Sure I know that. And Greens, and Fine Gael, and their TDs and their members of the Cabinet.”
“And they did not tease out the referendum wording to the extent that they knew the answer to every single matter that was raised. They couldn’t give the answers. And I was very disturbed that even at the count, there was no great presence of anyone there – with the exception of Leo Varadkar and Eamon Ryan.
“There should have been a government response to that. That tells me from the beginning that they were just throwing this together in the hope that the people would respond – and that didn’t happen for them,” he said.
“And as a result of that, they now have to revisit that trust, and they have to start doing business differently, reflecting on the needs of society and the individuals within society – and put people first, rather than their own grand notions.”
‘IT’S TOO LATE COMING OUT AFTERWARDS, AND SAYING, ‘I VOTED NO'”
Asked about colleague Willie O’Dea’s comments regarding the Hate Speech Bill and the direction of Fianna Fail, McGuinness went on to criticise TDs for “coming out after the event” to say they had voted no, saying it was “too late coming out afterwards, and saying, ‘I voted No’”.
“Of course you could say all of that. But some of my colleagues have come out after the event and said they voted No. But when you’re in a party, and that party is in government, or indeed if it’s in opposition, you come to the parliamentary party meetings, and you express your point of view there. And either try to strengthen your position or try to change the position of government – and that didn’t happen on this occasion.
“So it’s too late coming out afterwards, and saying, ‘Well I voted No.’ So what does it look like now? Government will have to respond to the issues that face people in their own lives. They haven’t been doing that. They haven’t been paying attention.”
“I listen carefully to questions to the Taoiseach and Ministers, and it is the basic things. Access to proper healthcare; access for care of our children for mental health issues and for autism and so on; access to school places; access to buses for school. They’re the basic rights that people should have. And they are not being listened to. They are being ignored – and that is why [the government] got such a resounding response of a No vote on polling day.”
Deputy McGuinness said he believed his party had “damaged itself” because of the fact it went into coalition with Fine Gael, and previous to that, due to confidence and supply, adding, “We need to set out our own policies.”
He admitted that “it’s hard to tell the difference now between any of the parties in government, and the policies of that party.”
“That’s not good for politics,” he added. “It’s not good for democracy.”