Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 June 2023
267. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Justice whether there have been any prosecutions under incitement to hatred arising law from protests against asylum seekers; and when she intends that the new offences covering hate crime will be available to gardaí handling such challenges. [27035/23]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, prosecutions are a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who is fully independent in her functions under Section 2(5) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974 (as amended).
As Minister I have no role in the operations, functions, governance or oversight of the Office of the DPP and, as such, I am unable to provide information or statistics relating to the Director's work.
The Deputy will also appreciate that the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána by law.
While people have the right to protest and of course that right must be respected, people do not have the right to do this in a way that causes others to fear for their safety or in a way that threatens public order. If that line between protesting and threatening or intimidating behaviour is crossed, there are a number of provisions in our laws that apply.
There is a range of legislation under which threats and intimidation can be prosecuted, including the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Persons Act and our Public Order legislation.
In relation to the specific statistics sought by the Deputy, I am informed by An Garda Síochána that while there are charges and summons created each year referring to offences contrary to Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989; the annual count does not exceed 10 in any given year and therefore the volume is too low to report.
In addition, the information searchable by An Garda Síochána would not say that any victim is an asylum seeker as this status is not recorded in a structured field in PULSE.
I can advise the Deputy that An Garda Síochána takes hate crime seriously and is strongly committed to engaging proactively and respectfully with all members of society, and, in particular, people from minority groups and diverse backgrounds. The Garda National Diversity and Integration Unit monitor all incidents recorded on Pulse that have a discriminatory motive attached to it. They advise, support and assist investigating Gardaí across the country who are investigating incidents which may have a discriminatory motive attached.
There are currently over 480 specially-trained Garda Diversity Officers (GDOs) across every Garda division. Their role is to liaise with representatives of the various minority/diverse communities in their division, establish communication links, inform and assure these communities of Garda services and provide support to victims of hate crime. Since 1st April 2022, it is also mandatory for all Garda Personnel, of all ranks and grades, to complete online Hate Crime training which includes a full section devoted to bias motivations.
It may be of interest to the Deputy to know that according to figures based on new recording practices from An Garda Síochána, there were 582 hate crimes and hate related (non-crime) incidents recorded in 2022 - 510 hate crimes and 72 hate related (non-crime) incidents. This represents a 29% increase on 2021.
In relation to the Deputy’s enquiry about the status of the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022, I can advise that the Bill completed its passage through the Dáíl in April. It is currently scheduled to begin its passage through the Seanad on 13 June 2023 and I look forward to constructively engaging with all members of that House.
