Results 6,221-6,240 of 46,260 for speaker:Simon Harris

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: I am pleased we are on Committee Stage. I will start with the areas where I agree. Deputy Pringle made the point about this legislation being good to have but that it is important - not to put words in the Deputy's mouth - for it to be effective. For people to be prosecuted where appropriate and the likes, that is absolutely a sentiment and a guiding principle I hold as we steer this...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: First, I will be continuing to examine this issue in advance of Report Stage. I note the Deputies' amendments. I believe they are trying to address a point that arose frequently during the course of the Second Stage debate. Since Second Stage, I have been reflecting on the many calls to expend the definition of hatred in the legislation. I appreciate that some people believe that...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: I have outlined the issue regarding bias and prejudice, and the reasons for that. I am happy to provide the committee with any useful information that I can. We have had very clear advice from the Office of Attorney General and have heard the concerns of the DPP about taking a definition that is useful and with which, I think, none of us has a policy problem - I certainly do not - and that...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: Yes, without passing a judgment on the 1989 Act, that is exactly right. I want to make sure we have an Act that is implementable and operational. If we as an Oireachtas decide to pass this law and put it on the Statute Book, members of An Garda Síochána, DPP staff and members of Judiciary need this Act to be implementable and operational. We know what we are endeavouring to do...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: I do not believe Deputy Pringle to be cynical at all and I certainly am not. What I am saying is that I will be engaging further in an appropriate fashion in terms of legal advice and with the DPP's office in advance of Report Stage. I hear what the committee is trying to do in terms of greater clarity. I take it that the purpose of these amendments is to try to provide greater clarity as...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: In the interests of time I will not repeat the same arguments. The Deputy correctly guessed my position. Incitement is not defined in the 1989 Act or the framework either that we are transposing. The other arguments that I made previously stand. We have a difference of view on this and I have outlined my position.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for tabling these amendments, which propose to change the definition of "religion". As currently drafted, religion is a protected characteristic for the purpose of the legislation. No one is suggesting it should not be. I understand this but the Bill also includes reference to the "absence of a religious conviction or belief" and this is explained in the Bill. I am very...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: I do not believe so because it is captured.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: That is my belief. It is my philosophical belief - touché. I am satisfied in this regard. The Deputy's argument would be a lot stronger if references to "the absence of religious conviction or belief" were not already captured in the Bill. I genuinely believe this is captured.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: It would. The Act will provide for the protected characteristic being a religion or absence of religious conviction or belief.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: Then we are back to the point where we genuinely have no practical example of that having come through the consultation. I am not being flippant in any way on this matter but we must, at some point, decide what the protected characteristics are. What we used to inform the wording was the public consultation, which took place long before my time in the Department of Justice. There was an...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: I am indeed.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: I acknowledge the detailed work and constructive suggestions that are being made. Deputies will be aware that many of the protected characteristics underpinning the Bill are carried forward from the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989. The addition of several new characteristics, namely, descent, gender, sex characteristics and disability, have been informed by public consultation...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: The rationale of my response is the same as in the previous interaction I had with Deputy Ó Ríordáin. Much has changed in the world, particularly in relation to recognition of ethnicity, since the Equal Status Act 2000 but I make the same point that this Bill cross-references the equality Acts and there is a review under way by the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman. That is...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is right. The way to deal with this is separate from the previous answers I gave. Both Deputy Pringle and Deputy Ó Ríordáin propose to expand the definition of gender to include reference to non-binary genders. I assure them this matter has been carefully considered in the drafting. While I appreciate the intention behind the amendments, I am advised caution in...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: Can the Deputy let me reflect on that?

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: Yes I would be very happy to reflect on that because I want to be absolutely clear, and for anyone watching these proceedings I want to be absolutely clear, that the intention is to ensure that there is comprehensive protection under this Bill to a person with a non-binary gender identity. The Deputy's suggestion is sensible so I can take that away and look at it. I will revert on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: I am happy to do that.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Simon Harris: I move amendment No. 24: In page 7, line 14, after “Expenditure” to insert “, National Development Plan Delivery”. This is a very straightforward amendment which calls the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform by its correct name. The Department has now been renamed the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform with...