Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 December 2013
293. Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to bring Ireland in line with the rest of the European Union and create a criminal offence for race crimes or hate crimes that were motivated by fraud, racial discrimination, or prejudice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51583/13]
View answerEU Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law requires the Member States to criminalise incitement to hatred, hatred being defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent, or national or ethnic origin. The discriminatory grounds in Ireland's Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, which contains a number of criminal offences, go further since hatred, for the purposes of the Act, 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".
