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 kn*cker that's really bad".
"But it's like a classic thing... like if you were sitting at a table and someone took your food, you'd be like: 'Ah, ya kn*cker'." He later apologised to the Travelling Community.
In the aftermath of the controversy, some online commentators suggested that Mr Kennedy could face five years in prison if the Government's highly contentious hate speech legislation was in place. However, in an exclusive interview with The Irish Mirror, Minister McEntee insisted this was not the case.
READ NEXT : RTE Director General Dee Forbes suspended as Ryan Tubridy payments scandal continues
"No, no, this is what I keep trying to say to people," she explained.
"[Kennedy] wasn't trying to offend anyone. He wasn't trying to incite others to go out and hate a group of people.
"He was simply discussing something."
The new legislation will criminalise any intentional or reckless communication or behaviour that is likely to incite violence or hatred against someone with a "protected characteristic".
Asked if Mr Kennedy would be in trouble if his "reckless" comments led to a fan attacking a halting site, Minister McEntee once again stressed that he would not find himself on the wrong side of the law.
She continued: "He wouldn't have done it thinking, ‘Well, I'm going to do this in the likelihood of some random person going ahead and attacking somebody’.
"It's not going to happen that way. You have to remember a guard has to decide that this needs to go to the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions]. The DPP has to have enough evidence to show that the person said this knowing it would likely cause somebody to go off and attack another person."
It then has to go to court where a jury of peers who look at this objectively would say, ‘Well, he really didn't think this’.
"That example you've used clearly shows that the person would not be prosecuted."
Ms McEntee suggested that there has been a "lot of misinformation" about the Hate Crime and Hate Speech legislation being spread online.
She also defended the fact her bill does not define the word "hate". She argued that "if you have three different words that are used in a piece of legislation to define hate, you then have to prove that all three of those acts or those feelings were pointed towards this person".
Ms McEntee said that her bill will "improve" legislation already in place
Questions about the impacts of the legislation are also growing in Fianna Fail.
At a parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday evening, several politicians said that they had not been fully informed about what the bill would entail.
Chairman Brendan Smith asked the party’s justice spokesperson Jim O’Callaghan to set up a group to further discuss the plan.
Mr O’Callaghan told The Irish Mirror: "There are some sections in the bill that are of concern to members of the Parliamentary Party.
"I was asked by the PP to put together a committee to look at it and Robbie Gallagher, Lisa Chambers and myself are doing so and hope to be able to report back to the Parliamentary party shortly."
Join our new WhatsApp community! Click this link to receive your daily dose of Dublin Live content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice .
Sign up to the Dublin Live Newsletter to get all the latest Dublin news straight to your inbox.
