As they start, so they will mean to go on. This weekend the Taoiseach set the tone for one particular topic in the election to come. In the course of an interview for the Sunday Times, Simon Harris suggested there was a link between what the paper described as a “surge in immigration” and rising homelessness.
"(The) very serious volume of people coming to the country is now having a real impact,” he replied. This is a statement that has very little basis in fact and certainly not in the way that the Taoiseach was attempting to portray. His comments signal that the floor has been lowered when it comes to the grubby business of using asylum seekers in pursuit of votes.
If this is the starting gun from the Taoiseach, then things might get very ugly. Mr Harris’ interview was published the day after it emerged that his Minister for Justice Helen McEntee is shelving a proposed law on hate speech. This legislation was to replace the Incitement to Hatred Act, enacted in 1989 when Ireland was another country.
Ms McEntee says that while she will attempt to go ahead with the hate crime element of the bill, “the incitement to hatred element does not have a consensus, so that will be dealt with at a later stage". It was arresting to hear a government minister say that a law will not be enacted in the Oireachtas because it doesn’t have a consensus. The vast majority of laws are enacted through the government parties invoking their parliamentary majority.
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