Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their comments and views. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked what is the point and why are we here. We are here because I fundamentally believe that we need to have hate crime legislation on the Statute Book. As I stated at the outset, we do not have such legislation at present. It is not that I have been forced or pushed into taking a particular route.

I believed that we had a consensus in this House. There was a strong consensus in favour of the legislation in its previous form. We lost that consensus and instead of not enacting any element of the legislation, I wanted to ensure that the provisions relating to hate crime would be put on the Statute Book for the first time. We are the final country in Europe to not have it.

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