Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

In naming different discriminations, it is not necessarily useful to go to anything that might be construed as a hierarchy of who should be considered, and so forth. There are different debates on which groups are targeted or persecuted at different times, in different areas and in different ways, be it by the law or in other different forms of oppression. In different places, different groups have been targeted. In each of these individual instances, we talk about the groups being targeted and why this is so. The overall framework under which we operate, which is the international framework, is the principle of human rights, which incorporates religious freedom. One of those human rights principles is the right to freely practice one's religion. Rather than focusing on this group or that group and whether we have an interest in or alliance with a group, the important thing and most globally useful thing, both to those Christians who are being persecuted in certain areas of the world, to Muslims and to the Rohingya people, for example, in Burma, is to bear in mind and continue to use our international UN human rights frame, as our reference point. That is something we need to be cognisant of, under and within which we need to be cognisant of the protections of the rights of those of all faiths and those of no faith, covering the full spectrum of the rights of humans.

I did not intend to come in on the debate but I wanted to at that point. The Minister of State spoke very eloquently in addressing the issues of hate, which I realise is separate, relates to other legislation and is not relevant to this, but I appeal to him - this is an appeal I have made a number of times - for us to reconsider a national action plan against racism, which may also include issues of religious intolerance, and to look at how that might be addressed. These are issues which should be addressed not only in terms of the crime of hate-speech but the active promotion of harmony, understanding, engagement and the protection of the rights of all, which we previously had under the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, NCCRI, the national committee, the advisory group which I was a member. That was a really approprriate and often very positive mechanism for promoting harmony, understanding and engagement and protecting the rights of all. This was a useful frame that we had previously. Will the Minister of State consider that as part of how we address these issues, going forward, since we are now changing the law?