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

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on hate speech and hate crime. One of the reasons I welcome it is there is a certain amount of confusion and uncertainty among the public as to what is meant by hate speech legislation or hate crime legislation. There would be benefit in the Oireachtas enunciating to the public what is meant by that. On one level are people who are fearful of hate crime legislation because they think it will criminalise their thoughts or what they say privately. It will not. On another are people who think there will be no protection for minorities unless hate speech and hate crime legislation is enacted rapidly.

I welcome the proposal that hate crime and hate speech be included in Article 83 of the treaty so directives could be promulgated and issued in respect of those offences. Criminal justice is generally a competence of the member state, but there are certain types of criminal activity the European Union and the members states have, through ratification of the treaties, agreed could also be dealt with at a European Union level. For instance, money laundering or illegal trafficking of humans is dealt with on a European Union level. Part of the reason for that is because it involves pan-jurisdictional offences and it makes sense to have a Europe-wide legislation and directive to deal with it.

We need to have two principles at the forefront of our mind when we talk about hate speech and hate crime. One is that we know from experience and history that groups can be targeted and subjected to extraordinary violence and criminal activity as a result of incitement to hatred against them. We saw that in Europe in the 1930s with what happened to the Jewish population. Second, we need to take into account that freedom of expression is important. People need to be reassured this legislation will not criminalise their thoughts or that they will not be able to express their hatreds. Many people in this country hate politicians, though Members of this House may find that extraordinary. After the legislation is enacted, they will still be entitled to hate politicians. Some people hate lawyers or bankers, and legislation in respect of hate speech or hate crime will not affect that.

We need to send out a message as to what is hate speech. Hate speech legislation is legislation introduced to prohibit the public incitement to violence or hatred on grounds of race, colour, religion, provenance or national or ethnic origin. We have had it on the Statute Book since 1989 in the form of the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act. There are not many prosecutions under it but it exists. The important point about it is it is only triggered when somebody advocates for hatred or violence against a particular group of people. We have very few examples of that in Ireland, and when this legislation is enacted, there will not be many prosecutions in respect of it because people are measured and balanced in their public commentary. We would have to go back to the previous century to find examples of people who strenuously advocated incitement to violence or hatred against certain groups in this country based on race, religion, sexual orientation or gender.

Then you come to ask "What is hate crime?"

What is proposed when it comes to hate crime is that there will be an aggravated element to a sentence if a person is convicted of a criminal offence because he or she targeted an individual due to that person's race, religion or identity. If somebody, for example, assaults an individual, and does so on racist or xenophobic grounds, it will be possible for a court when sentencing the perpetrator to take into account as an aggravating factor that the motivation in committing the offence was based on targeting the victim for xenophobic and-or racist reasons. We must be careful and clear about what is meant by hate speech and hate crime. This is not going to change the world or be the panacea for all our ills, but it is something that is beneficial, is there at present and must be clarified in more detail.

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