Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is with a heavy heart that I rise today to offer my sympathy to the family of the late Jo Cox. Sadly, neither her five year old son nor her three year old daughter will ever know the great humanitarian who was their mother. Sadly, her children will not experience the woman who believed that motherhood was the greatest joy and surpassed all political ambition. We must ask what crime this beautiful woman committed. Why was it that she should have her young life taken? Was it because of the Brexit referendum? That would be an easy answer. We could all possibly live with the idea that some deranged person, driven by a passion for one side of the Brexit debate saw himself as doing a service to the cause. While there may be some merit in this hypothesis, it does not provide an answer. The truth is that we are living in an ever more violent society. Hate is a growing phenomenon in the modern world.Social media have become the vehicle for some to vent their hatred. Politicians, the religious, sportspeople and others are now subjected to some of the most horrendous outbursts of hate. Since the Brexit debate started, there has been an onslaught of racist commentary. Has anyone in the United Kingdom been charged with incitement to hatred? In Ireland we have laws on incitement to hatred, but they are infrequently used. I would like to refer to one case. A man who had created an extremely offensive Facebook page was prosecuted under the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 for his online activities. The case which came before the courts in 2011 serves as a useful warning to those who would propagate hatred on social media. People should know that in Ireland the ordinary libel laws apply to whatever is said or published. It is time for us to use the laws available to us to stop this scourge. There can be no room for hate at any level of our society. It needs to be challenged both at home and internationally. I refer, for example, to the gun laws in the USA where some 65 Senators have been described as "spineless" for voting yesterday to reject four measures that would have restricted gun sales, including the sale of guns to people on the federal terrorism watchlist. What does that say about the war on terror which has turned the Middle East into a tinder box of violence?

In Ireland we can do little for the Cox family. We cannot return a loving mother to her children. We cannot turn the tide of hate that led to her death. However, we can resolve to do our bit to challenge hate. We can try to subject those who use hate as a weapon of intimidation to the full rigour of the law. We can try to hold the owners of social media sites which are rapidly becoming platforms for hate responsible for what is published on such sites. We do not need new legislation; we simply need to use what is already available. As we extend our sympathy to the Cox family, let us tell her children that Jo made a difference and gave her life to teach us tolerance. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.