Katherine Zappone (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I relish the opportunity to second this motion, and heartily commend Senator Mac Conghail for bringing it before the House. Since 2008, with the closure of NCCRI and the ending of the National Action Plan on Racism, and in spite of the excellent and progressive work to which the motion refers, I have no doubt that Ireland has lagged behind in its responsibilities to protect and promote the human rights of the ethnic, racial and national minorities, including Travellers, in Irish society.

People are being violated because we lag behind. This harms our society and, equally, our economy. Most of all, it places an iron cage around the potentially productive and happy lives of Irish citizens and residents who are culturally different from those of us who are white Irish.
In a comment piece in The Irish Timesat the beginning of the year, Mr. Shane O'Curry, director of the European Network Against Racism Ireland, ENAR Ireland, to which my colleague has already referred, wrote, "Language can so easily be used to dehumanise other ethnic groups". As we are all aware, an extraordinary woman who used language to humanise and wrote words to save generations and heal passed away last week. Ms Maya Angelou finally wrote a book at 40 years of age because, as she said herself, "there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story within you." With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, she broke her silence and, by doing so, set off a roar throughout the globe that still reverberates.
To prepare for this debate, I went to Tallaght west to a meeting organised by An Cosán to discuss racism in Ireland with people who have personally been affected by it. I met 15 extraordinary individuals and was privileged to hear their stories. Some of them are present alongside An Cosán's CEO, Ms Liz Waters. I will bring their voices - their song in the sense that Maya Angelou spoke of singing - to the centre stage of my remarks. I applaud their generosity and courage in sharing them with me. I am in no doubt that, in light of them bearing witness, the Minister for Justice and Equality needs to do at the very least what we have called on her to do.
Why should Ireland introduce provisions to deal with racist crimes? Senator Mac Conghail will also address this question. It is evident from the research conducted by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, ECRI, and ENAR Ireland that our justice system is unacceptably biased. Many of the testimonies from my meeting at An Cosán support the same. I will share a few of their stories with the Minister. One of the meeting's participants had witnessed an incident where members of the Garda physically assaulted a man who was of Islamic faith for no other obvious reason. The witness, a man of African descent, approached the gardaí involved and told them he had witnessed the assault and would be willing to testify against them. Subsequently, he was arrested. To this day, he has not been informed of the reason for his arrest despite a number of requests for same. We must ask ourselves whether this would have happened were he white and Irish.
It was also mentioned that the crimes against foreign residents were a lesser priority for the Garda. One woman at our meeting stated that crimes against such people were not solved, leading to people becoming frustrated and taking the law into their own hands and the media subsequently reporting that all immigrants are criminals. During the past three years, there had been 13 break-ins at the woman's house but none at the house of her neighbour, who was Irish. She stated that the Garda was doing nothing to help her.
Another woman spoke of the need for legal reform and the delivery of justice. She mentioned a saying in her country, namely, "If there is no law, there is no sin". She stated that there needed to be a law that prohibited racism in all its forms, starting with the shouting of racist slurs and name calling. She also stated that there should be a punishment for racist incidents and that these should be reported as a separate issue, but that gardaí were laughing at people who tried to report racism. She continued by telling us about the community effort in her local area where people were encouraged to report racist incidents to the Garda. She knows that many people did so. When they requested information at the end of the year on the levels of racist incidents in the area, though, the Garda report showed no recording of racist incidents.
According to ENAR Ireland, the reporting of racist incidents is unacceptably low in Ireland. Some 11% are reported to the Garda, with 18% reported to NGOs and other authorities. Of those who reported to the Garda, the satisfaction levels with its response were low. After hearing this woman, we also need to ask how many racist incidents were there that were reported to the Garda but did not appear in its reports.
As Senator Mac Conghail has discussed at length, there is a need to establish a centralised database to ensure an accurate recording of levels of racism. This must happen in order to reform fundamentally the current, inconsistent and unco-ordinated reporting of racist incidents where the victims do not receive the public support and confidence that is required.
It is critical that the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, bring a new vision and energy to tackling ongoing racism. I will conclude with Maya Angelou's own words. She wrote:

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.