Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be able to bring this very important Bill to the House because it represents an important step forward in the pursuit of equality and justice for all of our citizens. As a constitutional republican party, Fianna Fáil has always been committed to fighting discrimination in all forms. In government, Fianna Fáil brought forward policies and legislation to advance the rights of people with disabilities. Our proactive approach in government made a positive impact on the lives of people with disabilities. Fianna Fáil was the first Irish party ever to set out a comprehensive commitment to address the specific needs and rights of people with disabilities. During our time in government, there was a dramatic change in terms of legislation, planning, specialist service provision and access to mainstream services and activities for people with disabilities. To that end, the first national disability strategy was developed and commenced. The strategy set out a comprehensive package of legislation, policies and targets. In addition, thousands of day, residential and respite care places were created while a mandatory quota for the employment of people with disabilities in the public sector was also put in place. These are just some examples of the progress we achieved while in government.

This Bill is a vital step forward in further advancing and protecting the rights of people with disabilities because if passed, it will make it an offence to commit a crime motivated by prejudice. Violent offences motivated by bias, hostility, contempt, malice, or bigotry - in effect, hate crimes - must be legislated for and Ireland is one of the few EU member states without effective hate crime legislation. Indeed, research conducted in 2015 by the Hate and Hostility Research Group, HHRG, at the University of Limerick found that hate crime lives in the shadows of Irish criminal justice and is systematically "disappeared" from the criminal justice process. The researchers argue that no one organisation or policy is at fault in this process but that it is a system-wide failure to recognise the harms of hate. Systematic blindness results in a "disappearing" of the hate element of many crimes in the criminal justice process and a failure to provide victims with appropriate protection under the law. The researchers went on to point out that this disappearing of hate crime from the criminal justice system is most particular in the case of disability hate crime.

Based on data from the 2011 census, 13% of the Irish population is classified as having a disability. Research has shown that living with a disability affects people in multiple ways. People with disabilities are more likely to experience poverty and deprivation, have lower levels of educational attainment and are less likely to participate in the labour market. While people with disabilities face structural and cultural barriers that can prevent them from participating fully in society, research by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights shows that violence, harassment and abuse are also regular occurrences for many people with disabilities, creating another barrier to their inclusion and participation in the community, thereby reinforcing the exclusion of an already marginalised group. This is then compounded by the fact that crime is often not understood, forgotten about or considered of lesser significance than hate crimes motivated by racism, religious intolerance, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

This Bill is a very positive step forward in enhancing and protecting the rights of persons with a disability. It is my hope that this Bill will not only make hate crime based on disability an offence but will also improve the reporting and recording of disability hate crime which is generally considered to be under-reported. Disability hate crimes may be one-off incidents or systematic abuse that may continue over periods of weeks, months or even years. It can happen between strangers who have never met, between friends or within the family. However, it occurs and it is important that we have the relevant statistics and accurate reporting to help us improve the situation for victims as well as identify ways to reduce and eliminate hate crime.

While this proposed legislation is a vital step, it should operate in tandem with awareness raising and further research into disability hate crime so that we have a fuller picture of the forms that such crime can take, its effects and consequences. This proposed legislation must also be looked at in the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities which was signed by Ireland in 2007. A commitment has been given in the programme for Government to put the ratification before the Houses of Oireachtas by the end of 2016. Ratification will represent a huge step forward in advancing the rights of people with a disability in Ireland and will demonstrate this country's commitment, albeit late in the day, to promoting and protecting the full enjoyment of human rights by people with disabilities and ensuring they have full equality under the law.

The convention covers a wide range of areas, including health, education, employment, access to justice, personal security, independent living and access to information. This proposed Bill complements the convention and will help to ensure that the State lives up to its commitment under Article 16 of the convention to take "all appropriate legislative, administrative, social, educational and other measures to protect persons with disabilities, both within and outside the home, from all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse". It is my sincere hope that the Government makes ratification a priority and in the coming weeks puts in place the legislative changes that are required to ratify the convention.

Every person has an equal right to be protected by the criminal justice system. Stopping disability hate crime and bringing perpetrators to justice must be a priority. As elected representatives and legislators, we have a duty to put in place mechanisms that will counter the prejudice, hostility and violence that people can experience as a consequence of disability. By legislating for disability hate crime and raising awareness of it, we can improve the inclusion of people with disabilities into our communities. However, we must not limit our responses to disability hate crime to the justice system alone. We must work at all levels of society to challenge discrimination and prejudice and ensure that people with disabilities are treated as full and equal citizens.

See this speech in context