James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator O'Loughlin for her remarks and I acknowledge the intent and work behind this Private Members' Bill. The area of hate crime is of particular interest to the Senator and I am aware of her track record and considerable work in trying to advance the legislative position in recent years. The proposals in this Bill reflect the vital public interest in protecting persons from the harm caused by crimes motivated by hate and prejudice. I thank Senators for their contributions. I will address some of the issues throughout my response and will relay their contributions to the Minister.

It is fair to say that the historical approach to hate crime was perhaps defined by a sense that Ireland was a place where very few minorities lived and so we believed that hate crime did not really exist to any significant extent. Our society has changed and is so very colourful and diverse in comparison with the country of 50 years ago. We must acknowledge the reality that Ireland has always had minorities and categories of people who were treated shamefully. These were often people who did not have a voice and who were not listened to or taken seriously. I am proud that we are now taking serious steps to improve our criminal law in this important area and congratulate Senator O’Loughlin for her work in developing a genuine, concrete attempt to do just that. A deeper understanding of the problems and dangers of hate and division has now developed in Ireland, reflecting developments internationally. Academics and experts have for some time called for effective legislation to deal with these problems swiftly and effectively, wherever they occur. The work done by the Senator is one part of that and is to be welcomed for that reason.

Hate crimes cause very serious harm. They are especially serious because they are often used as a way of sending a signal to certain groups of people that they are not safe, not wanted or not entitled to the same freedoms as everybody else. This signal is not intended just for the victim but for their whole community and everyone who is like them. These crimes spread fear, anger and division. They make our societies less safe for everyone and, because of this, they are everyone’s problem and need to be taken very seriously. Development of new legislation in this area has wide community and cross-party support, which I welcome. The Government has reiterated its commitment to introducing such legislation in the programme for Government, Our Shared Future.

There is no doubt that the issues the Bill seeks to address are difficult and complex. This is why such significant and comprehensive work has been undertaken already by the Department of Justice to ensure that the different groups that will be impacted by hate crime legislation or that have expertise and experience working in the area, have an opportunity to feed into the development of that legislation. As well as a form of public consultation, engagement with civil society organisations and other experts is an ongoing feature of the development of the legislation.I acknowledge the significant contribution made to the work by all of those who have been so generous with their expertise and with sharing their stories, even though for some of the contributors, this will have been a painful process. I acknowledge that and thank those people.

A report on the results of the consultation and research in this regard will be published by the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, shortly. This work has provided very valuable insights which will inform the legislative proposals the Minister has committed to publishing in the early part of 2021. As Senators may be aware, the Minister's work in this area reflects the programme for Government commitment to introduce legislation within 12 months. Once published, the Government's legislative proposals will go forward to the Joint Committee on Justice and begin a process of comprehensive pre-legislative scrutiny. There will be ample opportunity for the Members of this House and other Oireachtas colleagues to participate and contribute further to the discussions during that process. The Minister is looking forward to seeing the results of the scrutiny process further inform and improve the legislative proposals.

The emotive and sensitive nature of the subject matter makes it particularly important that the debate around new hate crime legislation is as coherent and factually based as possible, and that any new legislative proposals in this regard are clear, proportionate and evidence-based. While the Bill is a genuine attempt to address the issues, parts of it would benefit from further detailed scrutiny and consultation. On the most fundamental level, I am advised that the proposed definition of hate crime in the Bill would not be suitable for use in criminal legislation. It is based on a definition used by An Garda Síochána for investigative purposes and is very useful and suitable in that context. However, the use of such a broad definition in criminal legislation, where an offence could be a hate crime in the event that a victim or any other person perceives it to be so, is not being considered by the Minister.

It will be important in bringing forward Government legislation in this area that any new definition of hate crime is workable and clear, and respects the correct balance of rights needed to ground a criminal prosecution. It is critically important that any legislation to deal with hate crime balances the important need to protect people from the very real and harmful impact of these crimes, while also protecting the human rights of those accused of wrongdoing. There are certain legal and drafting issues with the Bill which the Senator may wish to consider further. For example, some of the key definitions will need to be examined again to ensure they do not cause unintended cross-cutting effects. In addition, the sentencing provisions will need careful calibration to ensure they are proportionate and do not encroach on the independence of the Judiciary. We also need to be particularly mindful of the role of the jury in finding a person guilty of a crime. The section dealing with the hate element of the crime in question and how a person is able to defend himself or herself in relation to this part of the offence would also benefit from careful examination.

On a final point, the exclusion from the scope of the Bill of offences which are prosecuted summarily needs further consultation and, perhaps, consultation with those who are familiar with such prosecutions to ensure the most common forms of the offences are not outside of the scope of the Bill.

On the issue of the matter not currently being priority legislation, the first priority for the Minister was to get the required level of public consultation, and we had almost 4,000 contributions in that respect. As Senator Flynn correctly pointed out, it was a case of "nothing about me without me". The important part of the consultation was to enable individuals, civic society and organisations to make those contributions. I acknowledge, as Senator Bacik did, the work of the Irish Network Against Racism, Dr. Jennifer Schweppe and all those who made significant contributions in that respect. It is not possible to make this priority legislation until a scheme of the Bill has been prepared and sent to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, OPC. The legislation will be a priority for the Government as soon as the scheme has been completed and submitted to the OPC. The Minister expects to have the scheme ready in the early part of 2021. I assure Senators that this a priority for the Government, and it will be priority legislation in the new year.

I acknowledge again the work of Senator O'Loughlin and congratulate her on bringing this Bill forward. As legislators, we all have a grave responsibility to make sure society can deal effectively with hate crime. A great number of people are relying on us in this regard, and it has taken too long to get to this point. A collegiate and collaborative approach will be of utmost importance as the Government's legislative proposals on both hate crime and incitement to racial hatred are developed and go through the scrutiny process in the coming months in accordance with the programme for Government commitments. I ask for the support of all Senators for the important work that this will involve. I thank Senator O'Loughlin again for bringing this Bill to the House. I assure all Senators that their contributions will be a valuable addition to this process and will be taken into consideration. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and Senators for their attention.