Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is welcome that we are debating hate crime legislation because there is certainly a need for it. I commend Deputies O’Loughlin and Murphy O’Mahony for giving us the opportunity to debate it and for drafting legislation. We also have difficulties with the way it is drafted but we are willing to allow it go through Second Stage. On the point made by Deputy Jonathan O’Brien, there is a need for wide consultation with a variety of civil society groups etc. which have been calling for such legislation. There are pieces and sectors left out of this legislation.

When we were in government the then Minister of State, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, in conjunction with the Department of Justice and Equality, investigated the need for hate crime legislation. Some findings were made and the “love not hate” campaign started and was supported by many trade unions and civil society groups. In her contribution Deputy O’Loughlin said she would be open to amendments to the legislation and if that was not the case we would not be able to support the Bill because it needs considerable change and expansion.

Hate crimes are horrible crimes motivated by prejudice and there have been some very ugly examples, as outlined by Deputy Jonathan O’Brien. We have to change attitudes and the legal response. That is why it is important to have legislation, particularly given the motivation and the violent and gruesome elements of many of these crimes. The definitions need to be expanded. They are not by any means inclusive. Travellers in particular are not included. In the equal status and employment equality legislation there are nine grounds for discrimination some of which are not included here, such as ethnicity and the lesbian gay bisexual transgender, LGBT, definitions are not totally inclusive. If we are to end up with inclusive and workable legislation the Bill needs considerable amendments.

Reference was made to the Scottish legislation but the English and Welsh legislation is a better model. Sentencing alone will not address the issue, there are more extensive ways of addressing hate crimes in the English and Welsh legislation. It has to be legislation for ourselves and our country. We often pride ourselves on progress we have made in a variety of ways but we still have, very sadly, a minority of people who will commit vicious crimes purely on the basis of having a prejudice against a group of people that they do not see as people like themselves. We need to change that through legislation and in a variety of other ways, such as dealing with bullying in schools and attitudes. We need to change the way people think but a big and vital element of that is having legislation that is a strong enough deterrent and states clearly that these crimes are not to be tolerated and are to be appropriately punished. There is a variety of civil society groups which have done a lot of research on this, including the University of Limerick, and we need to draw on all of that for legislation, whether this Bill or the one the Minister is working on but we need it soon.

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