There are robust mechanisms already in place in legislation to deal with discrimination, hate speech and racist crime.
The Equal Status Acts 2000 to 2012 and the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2011 prohibit discrimination on nine grounds in the supply of and access to goods and services and in the field of employment. This legislation is kept under ongoing review by my Department.
I have asked the members designate of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission to examine, as a priority, the potential impact of section 37 of the Employment Equality Acts on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons and undertake an extensive consultative process and formal assessment of the options for its amendment. I am committed, once this necessary consultation process is completed, to bringing forward Government proposals for necessary amendments to this provision. It is not possible at this point to say when this consultation will conclude and when I will be in a position to publish my proposals.
Under the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, it is an offence, inter alia, to use words, publish or distribute written material, or broadcast any visual images or sounds which are threatening, abusive or insulting and are intended, or, having regard to all the circumstances, are likely to stir up hatred. The word "hatred" is defined as "hatred against a group of persons in the State or elsewhere on account of their race, colour, nationality, religion, ethnic or national origins, membership of the travelling community or sexual orientation".
The State's prosecutorial authorities have not brought to my notice any difficulties in bringing prosecutions under the 1989 Act.
In addition to the above legislation, where criminal offences such as assault, criminal damage, or public order offences are committed with a racist motive, they are prosecuted as generic offences through the wider criminal law. Judges are required to take aggravating (and mitigating) factors, including racial motivation, into account at sentencing.
In all the circumstances, I have no plans, at present, for legislative initiatives in relation to hate crime. However, more generally, the Government is committed to a strategic review of penal policy, including sentencing. The report of the working group conducting the review is expected early next year.
As interpretation of the Constitution is a matter for the courts, I cannot comment on Constitutional principles in this area of the law.
