If I had been allowed to finish I would have advised the Deputy of the reason this matter is taking longer than he might wish. We must take account of developments at European level. A Council framework decision was published last November, but we were under the impression that it was going to be published for some time before that.
We have to await final agreement on the text of the framework decision which may be some months away before we will be in position to fully assess its implications for our legislation and the review already under way. The final text of the protocol to the Council of Europe convention on cybercrime will also have to be considered in the context of the legislative review. That protocol is expected to be finalised before the end of April 2002.
The issue of racism on the Internet had been left over from the discussion on the cybercrime convention because of the difficult issues involved. I could hardly be expected to move unilaterally on an issue as important as this. I have to take account of movement within the EU. In that respect it is true, and I have said so on a number of occasions, that the Incitement to Hatred Act, as presently constituted, is not sufficient to deal with the problem. There has been an increase in the number of prosecutions. I understand that there have been about five such prosecutions, but I accept that this figure is too low. There is a problem with the legislation and we are moving ahead with a public awareness campaign on racism. I assure Deputy Howlin that this matter is being treated extremely seriously, but we must take account of what is happening at European level before we can finally decide on the shape of our legislation into the future.