David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator McFadden for raising this important issue. I also congratulate her on the presentation she has just made. It was very measured but very well researched and strong.

Safety, fairness and inclusion are at the heart of the work of the Department of Justice and Equality. The Minister and I are committed to ensuring that Ireland is a safe and secure country for everyone. This means working to find effective ways of protecting people from the effects of hate crime and hate speech and of signalling very clearly to perpetrators that hate crime and hate speech, whether they take place online or in the real world, are not tolerated or accepted here. There is already a significant body of criminal law in place to deal with hate crime and hate speech. The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 includes offences of incitement to hatred on account of race, religion, nationality, ethnic or sexual orientation. In brief, it is an offence to use words, behave, publish or distribute written material, or broadcast any visual images or sounds which are threatening, abusive or insulting and are intended or, having regard to all the circumstances, are likely to stir up hatred. In addition, where any criminal offence such as assault, criminal damage or a public order offence is committed against a person because of their race, religion, colour, ethnicity or some other prejudice, it can be prosecuted through the wider criminal law and the courts can consider evidence of a hate or prejudice motive as an aggravating factor at sentencing.

Of course, the criminal law must be kept under review. We must learn from our experiences of the implementation of the law in practice and from the experiences of other countries and we must ensure that the law keeps pace with developments in society. I am very conscious of recent calls from civil society, international bodies and others for reform of the legislation in this area. With that in mind, the Department of Justice and Equality has arranged for research to be carried out on the effectiveness of hate crime laws in other jurisdictions. This work will look at how other countries have legislated to deal with offences which are motivated by prejudice or hate and how effective those laws have been in practice. Separately, the Department is undertaking a review of the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act. As part of this review, the Department will shortly carry out a public consultation on the Act and the results of this consultation together with wider policy analysis and review will inform proposals for changes to the Act which will be brought before this House for debate in due course.