Dr. Lucy Michael:

I thank Ms Gibney. I will try to be brief. Hate speech is a term that causes much confusion among policymakers and legislators as well as the public. Certainly in terms of this legislation, I would be very cautious about ensuring it was well defined. This legislation must be carefully aligned with the hate crime and hate speech Bill that is coming forward. We know many people need a little more education and awareness on what hate speech is in this context. Only the most extreme instances of hate speech are criminalised, and the European Court of Human Rights and the charter both recognise there are limitations on free speech and those should be for particular purposes. If a state does not criminalise certain hate speech, then it must regulate it in some way, and that is where this Bill comes in. The implementation without gaps of hate speech legislation in such a way that it protects both those who are targeted by hate speech and freedom of expression for them and everybody else means we need that careful definition and alignment. Therefore, in creating the media commission and those involved in creating further codes, toolkits and guides going forward, a careful definition now, along with a mechanism to ensure that is kept up to date and in alignment with other legislation is crucial.