Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I fully support the motion for Ireland to opt-in to the EU measure on extending EU crimes under Article 83 to include hate crime and hate speech. When I was a primary school teacher, kids would come in from the yard and an elbow, punch or trip would have hurt them, but words hurt them far more. It should come as no surprise to us as adults that hate speech and all that it encompasses is equally as hurtful. It has taken us a long time to do this and there have been many iterations of legislation that has tried to deal with this issue, but it is right that in 2022 this is being dealt with at EU level.

Any utterances that diminish one's equality, standing and self-respect on the grounds of race, colour, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or religion are disgusting, immoral and, very soon, will be in the realm of crime. Too many people have hidden behind veils of anonymity when it comes to hate speech.

I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, and in the schoolyard of an all-boys' school, the homophobic slagging was very much a staple diet. Many people here could relate to that. Those words were brushed off by many of us, but for some they were words that hurt and lingered for many years afterwards. It is good this Irish State has atoned for much of that awful stuff that went on in schoolyards over the years, with the marriage equality referendum being one of those acts of atonement. Now children are growing up knowing that another boy or girl in their school can have two dads or two moms. It is acceptable and something they grow up with. Books in school libraries now reflect the family make-up we have in Ireland, and all that is progressive and normalised.

There is a murky underbelly on social media and every one of us uses such media. It is a way for us to engage. The mainstream media are not present in the Chamber but they may be following the debate on the monitors, and much of what we do now as public representatives plays out on social media. Such media can be a murky place with many individuals and people who are politically affiliated throwing punches and who are practitioners of hate speech. I have checked some of the people posting on my comments. I posted the other day about very local issues and had an audience from Carrickmacross, Newry, Derry and Dundalk weighing in on it, despite it having no relevance to them. Some people have questioned if the Abú system is working but it is working very well. It is time to call some of it off.

I want to speak to the targeting of Ukrainian President Zelenskiy. It is absolutely disgusting that Russian President Putin has time and again thrown out terms like "Jew" and "neo-Nazi" as a way of discrediting a European democratically elected government. Our Taoiseach and Cabinet should show our full alliance with Ukraine when engaging with European counterparts, as we do today with the lighting of the building and all the actions taking place in and outside the building. It is very important those hate words that are being used as a tool and weapon of language are knocked on the head.

There is a political party that does not yet have a seat in this Chamber, the Irish Freedom Party. It practises hate messaging and it is how it operates. Its members message on topics of gender, transgender and immigration. They are the issues on which they campaign. It can be argued it is a political party with a right to represent and speak, but it does not have any elected mandate in this country. If its members believe they have a right to speech, they will have less of a right to make their statements when we sign up to this because any form of rallying people or inciting hatred in that regard will be illegal.

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