Ivana Bacik (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I commend Senator O'Loughlin and her colleagues on proposing a Bill on hate crime and, indeed, on raising the issue and keeping it on the political agenda. As previous speakers indicated, it is long overdue for legislation of this to be put in place. Hate crime laws are well established in other jurisdictions. They are seen as important because they vindicate the rights of victims and those who have experienced hate crimes. We heard such eloquent testimony from our dear colleague, Senator Norris, about his lived experience of suffering hate crime. That is important from the victim's perspective.

Hate crime laws are also important because they recognise motivation of hatred as an aggravating factor in an offence and, in some cases, in sentencing as well as in the aggravated offence. These laws are important because they also recognise a societal disapproval of particular biases, prejudices and hate motivation. Indeed, having hate crime laws on the Statute Book also enables the maintenance of proper recording and reporting of hate crime, a real area where Ireland has been lacking. Others have referred to the UN rapporteur as being highly critical of Ireland's lack of hate crime legislation.

For all these reasons, I have long been a proponent of the need for hate crime laws. In its 2020 election manifesto, the Labour Party put forward a policy to make hate crime illegal and to provide specific laws. It is long overdue and that is well recognised. I am aware there is also a commitment in the programme for Government to bring forward hate crime law and also reform hate speech law. They are different but often wrongly conflated. Those are all welcome.

Senator O'Loughlin has acknowledged that the Bill and the wording used in it are deeply flawed. As a criminal lawyer, I have many issues with the text, I refer to the lack of precision in the drafting, to the definitions section, to the sections on sentencing - for example, section 4 - and the lack of clarity as to whether a mandatory minimum sentence is being created, etc. Senator O'Loughlin acknowledged those flaws and I know she will be aware that, with a criminal statute, there is a requirement that the language be precise. There has been a body of case law striking down offences that are seen as too vague in their wording. Clearly, the wording needs extensive tightening, review and revision. Indeed, we have all received a great deal of comment on that via email and it has been good to see just how much people are engaged in respect of the issue. That is welcome. The Bill is problematic in terms of the wording used and it will require a good deal of amendment.

I am conscious we have debated the issue for many years and it is long overdue that we see some form of legislation coming forward. I ask that the Minister of State give us a timeframe, particularly as the commitment in the programme for Government states that hate crime legislation will be introduced within 12 months of the formation of the Government, that this legislation will be based on an aggravated offences model and that it will be supported by training across the criminal justice system, as well as victim supports. This is all welcome but when will we see it?I am conscious the Department of Justice is currently conducting a review of hate speech law, specifically the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 which deals with cases of hate speech aimed at inciting hatred but which has been long criticised as being an ineffective piece of legislation under which it is almost impossible to bring a secure conviction. When is the review of the 1989 Act due? I understand that review is imminent and a White Paper is already in train in the Department of Justice. We need, however, a specific timeline to ensure we have the sort of robust and precisely drafted legislation on hate crime and hate speech that we really need.

I wish to pay tribute to the many academics and NGOs that have worked on this issue over the years and whose work has fed into a deep understanding of the sort of legislation that is really needed. University of Limerick, UL, academics, in particular, have led on this. I have long admired the work of Dr. Jennifer Schweppe but also that of her colleagues, Dr. Amanda Haynes and Dr. James Carr, whose report, A Life Free From Fear - Legislating for Hate Crime in Ireland: An NGO Perspective, was launched in 2014. I should declare an interest because I spoke at the launch. The Minister of State will be aware they drew up draft legislation at the time and their recommendations should, and I hope will, feed into the review. They worked, of course, with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, which has led in this area, and with other organisations. I mention NGOs such as the Irish Network Against Racism, INAR, formerly known as the European Network Against Racism, led by Mr. Shane O'Curry. Again, that organisation led the way in raising awareness about the extent to which hate crime is an issue in Ireland. Indeed, INAR and the ICCL and others are involved in a coalition against hate crime that is working to ensure we get the robust legislation we need.

I am aware there were a large number of submissions, approximately 4,000, to the Department of Justice consultation on the 1989 Act. Clearly there are strong views on this and they will need to be fed into the drafting of the legislation.

Without the drafting of the legislation we are failing the victims of hate crime and society more broadly. We are failing as a society because without hate crime legislation, we are not in a position to formally acknowledge the real damage, hurt, pain and suffering caused by hate crime. While we await the legislation we are, I suppose, in a situation where we simply do not know the extent to which hate crime is perpetrated.

In June of this year, the Garda reported that 250 crimes recorded in 2019 were judged to have a hate-based motive. It is worrying, but at the same time, I believe all of us would assume that is an underestimate of the true level of hate crime. I commend the Garda which introduced a working definition in 2019 so it could move towards the recording of hate crimes. Clearly, a statutory framework is essential to ensure we have robust reporting.

There have been some worrying reports about the policing of hate crime legislation.On 20 August of this year in The Irish Times, Mr. Conor Gallagher reported an internal Garda survey which found that a worrying number of gardaí had poor opinions of different minority communities. That is a concern and makes the programme for Government commitment to introducing supports in the form of training for those working in the criminal justice system crucial. We need to ensure the legislation is accompanied by non-legislative and non-penal frameworks which enable the legislation to be effective.

Of course, we are all well aware it will take more than hate crime laws to tackle the real extent of hate crime and hate speech in Ireland. To develop a society in which people truly feel equal and free from the sort of fears many still experience daily walking around public streets or public spaces, we must move towards changing public opinion. We must move towards a system of education and supports, not just for those in the criminal justice system but supports for teachers and students in our education system. We know the motivation behind hate crime is a deep-seated problem in Irish society and we need to make sure we tackle it.

I look forward to specific timeframes from the Minister of State on when the Government will introduce the legislation, when we will see the report published on the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 and when we will see true reform taking place.