Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Deputy's comments and the engagement we have had on it over the past number of months. I have also had engagement with a number of Deputies from across the parties. Deputy Daly said there has been a lot of consensus since Second Stage. To me, that means this could be more effective and more robust and has a better chance of success. At the end of the day, that is what is important. When we started looking at this there were three key areas that needed to be addressed. They included determining which victim groups would be included and which needed to be protected; deciding whether the hate element would be addressed by way of aggravated offences or aggravated sentencing; and determining how hate would be established and what hate is understood to be. The Deputy made that point. It is quite complex. We still have quite a bit of work to do on that. I welcome the approach we have taken. We are completely open to amendments and to working together to ensure this will be on the Statute Book. It will help those who need support in our country.