Mr. Ronan Lupton:

I have already answered that question in my statement. I think we do need to go beyond that. The difficulty with that particular Act is that gardaí are sent to locations where people with loudhailers are protesting or they are saying things on organs or platforms where they have multiple thousands of followers. What can an individual garda from Irishtown Garda station do in terms of prosecuting under sections 2, 3 and 4 of the incitement to hatred legislation? It would be a very brave step to do that and face the baying mob that we have seen in recent times. Is there a need for reform and an update of that legislation? The answer is a categorical "Yes". The question is how does one do it because it is extremely complicated. One is into the discussion of online harms, that is, all of the points that we have just discussed in terms of the turf, as it were. The legislation needs to be brought up to date. As I make clear throughout my statement, there must be a balancing act, as Senator Conway mentioned, between the right to free speech under Article 40.6.1° of the Constitution, the preservation of the good name of citizens in Article 40 and use of the law, perhaps in defamation and other contexts, to vindicate those particular rights. The answer, therefore, is a categorical "Yes". The legislation needs to be brought up to date.