Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 October 2023
164. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice the extent to which hate speech, hate crime and racism continue to be addressed in all areas throughout the country without exception; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44443/23]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that the Government is fully committed to the fight against racism, prejudice and bigotry, and strongly condemns the actions of those who abuse and attack others because of their own prejudices against a person’s religion, ethnic origins, sexual orientation or any other part of their identity as a human being. Ireland is a diverse and tolerant country, and such behaviour is not acceptable.
It is currently an offence under the Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 to speak, publish, display or broadcast threatening, abusive or insulting material, where that material is intended or likely to stir up hatred against a person(s) on the basis of a protected characteristic. It is also an offence to prepare or possess such material with a view to its publication, broadcast or display.
The Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 will update the existing offences to include incitement to violence as well as incitement to hatred and it will create new hate crime offences for the first time in Ireland.
Under the Bill, it will be an offence to incite violence, in addition to hatred, towards individuals and groups based on a list of protected characteristics, which include a person’s race, colour, nationality, national or ethnic origin and their descent.
The Bill also creates new hate offences as aggravated forms of existing offences, for example: “assault aggravated by hatred”. This will allow a court to impose a sentence that recognises the hate component of an offence where it is motivated by hatred or where hatred is demonstrated during the commission of the offence.
Other elements of the existing Act are retained, including the offence of preparing and possessing material likely to stir up hatred and powers of search, arrest and forfeiture necessary for the investigation of the offence.
In addition to my work on this legislation, my colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth earlier this year fulfilled the Government commitment to publish a National Action Plan against Racism.
Other actions to tackle racism, prejudice and intolerance in the Programme for Government include the Migrant Integration Strategy and the National LGBTI+ Strategy.
Work also continues on Supporting a Victim's Journey', the detailed plan to implement the recommendations of the O'Malley Review so as to introduce important reforms to support and protect vulnerable victims and make our criminal justice system more victim-centred.
I would encourage anyone who has been a victim or has witnessed any hate motivated crime to report it to An Garda Síochána for investigation.
An Garda Síochána takes hate crime seriously and is strongly committed to engaging proactively and respectfully with all members of society, and, in particular, persons 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 them. They advise, support and assist investigating Gardaí across the country who are investigating incidents which may have a discriminatory motive attached.
There are now 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.
