Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of a human rights based approach to policing in Ireland, on which a report was published and launched yesterday in Buswells Hotel. I understand all Oireachtas Members were sent an invitation to the launch, which was organised by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL. I thank the chief executive of the council, Mr. Liam Herrick, and his staff for an excellent piece of work on a human rights based approach to policing. The piece on policing in Northern Ireland historically, in respect of which the team engaged with people from that jurisdiction, is interesting. Of particular importance are the actions recommended in the report, which are challenging and make for interesting reading.

I also want to focus on a matter raised yesterday, namely, hate crime. Hate crime is real. It is oppressive and it has enormous damaging affects on those who fall victim to it. Hate crime can cause people to withdraw from society and avoid expressing their own identity. When unchallenged, hate crime can have consequences well beyond the immediate victim. It can also cause people to alter their daily lives. Yesterday, we heard various stories about people who were hurt, damaged and undermined as human beings by hate crime. I want to share a story with the House. The other day I spoke to a man from Pakistan who told me he was walking in the suburbs of Dublin two or three weeks ago when he was approached by what he described as three young boys, possibly of 11, 12 or 13 years of age, who shouted abuse at him, calling him curry head and so on. He decided to ignore them because they were young lads. However, when they got close to him they dragged him to the ground and kicked him to a pulp. When I asked him what did about it, he said he did nothing because, first, he did not want to retaliate as he realised they were minors and, second, because it might affect his status in this country. He was afraid. He was compromised and he did not feel he would be given a sympathetic ear by An Garda Síochána. That is not to suggest that that is true. Confidence in our policing is terribly important. The Traveller and Roma communities and diverse other groups must have confidence in the policing of our State. This is a challenge that we need to address.

Earlier, I spoke to the leader who, like me, is a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE. This is an issue for all jurisdictions represented on the OSCE, where we hear different stories about different jurisdictions, which the leader might touch on later. In terms of a response to this challenge, this House or an appropriate committee should examine the ICCL report. We need to discuss the issue of hate crime. We should call it what it is, namely, a crime against people in terms of their identity, who they are and where they are placed in society. In an Ireland which we profess to be a true republic, and rightly so, we must value and defend the values of a republic and allow our citizens to live in peace and feel protected by the State and its police service. This is an issue that needs to be revisited by a committee.We need to focus on it constantly and seek to address it. We also need to call it what it is - it is hate and the crimes involved are hate crimes. As legislators, we must take steps to stop it happening.