Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has said that he and the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, are committed to this. What actions do they intend to take? There is no evidence that the Minister is taking this issue seriously. It is as if this problem was brought to his attention yesterday in the Irish Council for Civil Liberties report. The migrant integration strategy, which was published over a year and a half ago, commits the Government to a review of the current legislation. Equally, the recent LGBT youth strategy talks about the need to review the legislation in this area to identify if any gaps exist. Will the Minister give a commitment to do anything other than review the situation? This is a pressing issue and a growing issue. Rather than talking vaguely about being committed and looking at the report, the Minister needs to come up with a practical and urgent response. The least the Minister should do is require the courts to take account of bigoted motivation when sentences are being considered. At the moment, it is completely discretionary. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance has observed that its application is inconsistent in sentencing. Will the Minister give a commitment to introduce legislation to tackle this most pressing issue?

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