Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 82:

In page 18, lines 37 and 38, to delete “the personal characteristics of the victim referred to in paragraph (d)” and substitute the following:“the personal characteristics of the victim, including such characteristics as are referred to in paragraph (d)”.

Section 14(2) requires a member of the Garda or an officer of the Ombudsman Commission, when carrying out an assessment of the needs of a victim, to have regard to a number of listed matters. One of these matters, in paragraph (d), is a non-exhaustive list of personal characteristics of the victim. Paragraph (e) is whether the crime appears to have been committed with a discriminatory motive.

Concerns were raised on Second Stage that the wording of section 14(2)(e) would limit the basis of hate crime to the personal characteristics listed in section 14(2)(d). This was never the intention. Amendment No. 82 aims to clarify that the basis of hate crime may include, but is not limited to, characteristics listed in paragraph (d). In fact, my amendment covers the points raised in amendments Nos. 83 and 84 and will have the same effect.

Amendment No. 85 deletes “hate crime” from the list of factors in paragraph (f) as it has already been addressed separately in paragraph (e). My amendment has the same impact as the Deputies had suggested needed to be done in their amendments.