Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We Irish should be the least racist people in the world, primarily because of our huge diaspora and because of our culture, going back over hundreds of years and sadly right up to the present day, of exporting our people. In America, some 40 million people claim to be Irish and some 60 million or 70 million Irish people - it is a phenomenal figure - have settled worldwide. I, too, was among that number when I was a teenager and in my early 20s. I emigrated to London seeking work. I rarely encountered any racism directed towards me personally, although I was aware that there was an underlying anti-Irishness at that time - it was the late 1960s and mid-1970s - primarily because of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It is because of all those experiences that I say that we Irish should not be racist people, yet figures indicate that, as a result of the entry of people of different cultures, different faiths and different colours during the past 15 years, those who are charged with monitoring racist offences and racist attacks point to an ever growing and concerning level of such attacks.

I applaud the Taioseach's nominated Senators for putting their name to this motion. We need to debate issues of this nature more regularly in this House and in Parliament generally. I was struck by the first part of the motion, which states that, "tackling racism and promoting diversity is not just the responsibility of Government: everybody in Irish society, including individuals ... have a responsibility to address racism and its impact on the people who experience it".

I was chairman of the human rights committee of the Council of Europe until 2007. As chairman of Leitrim Country Childcare Committee, I have promoted diverse multicultural activities involving parents and children of those who have settled in our county, primarily but not exclusively the Kurdish population, under Programme Refugee. I remember standing for the council and promoting the view that we in Leitrim, along with other parts of Ireland, should welcome families of Programme Refugee, who at the time were coming from Kosovo

As a result of this I received a considerable amount of hate mail.

It would perhaps be surprising to this House, in the context of the remarks that Senator MacSharry made earlier in his contribution, that I stumbled and fell into this cesspit of racism while making remarks on a taxi regulation Bill, where in attempting clumsily to ask questions about why there was not more training of taxi drivers in Dublin I used language which was wrong, stupid and grossly offensive to those of a different culture to mine. I apologised at the time and I apologise again, considering the background that I outlined. One of my brothers, who lives in France, is part of a multicultural family. I would be the least likely to be accused of being racist but I was so accused. For an uncomfortable but brief moment - brief being a few weeks, which did not feel brief at the time - I came to somehow understand what it must be like to be the subject of racist abuse and attacks because I was attacked, vilely in many cases, and accused of the most outrageous attributes, which were totally alien to me then and remain so now. My experience of this abuse came through social media and because a political party represented in this House decided to make political capital out of my misfortune by publishing on YouTube an edited selection of what I had said in the House. I received a great deal of vile abuse as a result of that activity, including dozens of messages to my personal e-mail account. By the way, I replied to every one of these messages. I tried to undo the damage I knew I had done. Within hours I apologised but it seems my apology was not sufficient. This raised its own issues about those who are most liberal sometimes being the most intolerant.

I make these remarks as a brief example of what it must be like for somebody to suffer the sort of racism we are discussing today. I experienced it from a different perspective but in the same context. I was taken by the survey by Integration Centre Ireland and other bodies that monitor racist attacks, which found it 22 times more likely that racist incidents would be reported in England and Wales than in Ireland. The centre's public affairs director, Helena Clarke, has said that the under reporting of such incidents is a worrying problem in Ireland because it is obvious that racism is not 22 times more likely in England or Wales than in Ireland. The figures collated by the Garda appear to be in stark contrast to the data collected through a hotline which recorded 60 specific attacks nationwide over a three month period, compared to the Garda's figure of 19 incidents over the same period. To its credit, the Garda suggests that the discrepancy probably arose through incidents being recorded in other categories, such as assaults, where motive could not be initially established. I welcome that the Garda has appointed 322 personnel to act as ethnic liaison officers covering every district in the State. Uniquely in Europe, Ireland does not have legislation allowing crimes involving racist, religious or homophobic motivation to be considered as an aggravating factor in sentencing. That issue is dealt with in this very well worded motion.

A common theme running through several Members' contributions is the importance of education. Good manners dictate that I should have welcomed the Minister of State earlier, and I ask her to forgive me for failing to do so. A study carried out in England found that based on a sample of English educational institutions, racist attitudes and behaviours are common among both pupils and teachers. Most of the teachers surveyed had received little or no education on tackling racism or promoting race equality while training or teaching. Many considered that the best approach was to adopt a colour blind position of ignoring difference and attempting to treat all children the same. The study found a lack of evidence that the majority of institutions had made a serious attempt to embed race equality and highlighted the need for widespread training, including in-service training to empower educators with the skills and knowledge required to consider issues of race equality in lesson planning and delivery, value and acknowledge differences and similarity amongst their pupils, tackle racism and create an environment of openness in which young people can develop positive attitudes and a critical awareness of the world.

Ultimately, however, it is what happens in the home that frames young people's attitudes. As parents, we have that responsibility. I welcome and applaud this motion.