Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not aware of any utterances by any Fianna Fáil candidate, as a candidate, in terms of making statements that could offend or incite hatred. We have a broader problem in this country and throughout Europe in respect of incitement to hatred of individuals. If one looks at the UK, one can see that there has been a significant rise in hate crimes recorded in England and Wales. In 2018-19, 103,000 such offences were recorded in England and Wales, while in 2012-13, the number was only 42,000. There is a reason that these offences are increasing. It is partly due to populism and partly due to social media. Some of it is also due to intolerance. Obviously, there has been greater immigration into countries in recent years. This appears to have been used inexplicably as justification for it as well so we need to challenge these utterances and to be very severe about it. Hate crimes are not just an attack on the victims and social groups, but an attack on society. It will damage community relations in this country if we are prepared to tolerate certain groups being targeted because of their status.

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