Justice Minister Helen McEntee has denied suggestions that Dermot Kennedy would have been prosecuted under hate crime legislation after he was accused of using a "racial slur".
It comes just days after the Dublin star, who has two sell-out shows at Dublin's Marlay Park this weekend, apologised for using the term "knackered".
He used the word as an example of Irish slang in an interview and said that if you "called someone a knacker that's really bad".