Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of hate crime legislation and the need for it. In the week before Pride there was a horrific homophobic attack on a couple in Portlaoise. On Pride weekend there was brick thrown through the window of the PantiBar. A Brazilian actor, Rodrigo Ternevoy, spoke to GCN about the verbal homophobia directed towards him while shooting a video outside the George. The BBC reported yesterday that two thirds of LGBT people fear holding hands in public. I hold hands with my boyfriend in public but we only do so if we have a sense of place. We also regularly cross the road or the lock on the canal if we fear for our safety. It is likely that the women in these Houses will understand that to a greater degree than others.

Fianna Fáil has a Bill on hate crime which seems to be lost somewhere in these Houses. Without being mean-spirited, the Bill is somewhat of a mess. From what I can gather, we need the political will of the Government to use the structures of the State to bring forward a workable Bill. I would happily bring forward the Irish Council for Civil Liberties Bill from 2015. Sinn Féin has done so before. We are one of few EU states not to have legislation on hate crime that addresses racism, ableism, sectarianism, bigotry and homophobia in society. I ask the Leader to do all he can to progress this issue.