Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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To answer Deputy Chamber's question first, I wrote to the Minister looking for engagement and support on this. I received an acknowledgment but we have not had any engagement yet. I feel there is support but it has not been formally put on the table yet. I have no doubt that Deputy Brophy and Deputy Farrell know more about it than I do. I have a hope that it will be accepted by the Government.

The Deputy hit on an important issue of the impact of hate crime not only on individuals but on communities. Hate crime can have a ripple effect and it can send out a message in a community that hate crime is okay. It is sending out the completely wrong message. It brings us back to why we should legislate for hate crime. At the end of the day, people should not be targeted with criminal offences because of their differences, whatever those differences are.

Every citizen and non-citizen should feel free participate safely in all aspects of life in our country because hate crime, as much as there can be a physical impact, is also a message crime. It gives a bad message to those who are impacted and the five people to whom I referred suffered for years afterwards in respect of how they felt about themselves, how their confidence was impacted and how they felt they were not of value to society. It sends a dehumanising message to the victim and the community. We have to try to eradicate that. It is one thing to address this in legislation but we also have to try to change the hearts and minds of our people when it is enacted and to support the Garda to act in a proactive and appropriate way when such crimes are committed. This is a grey area at this point in time.