Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to share my time with my colleague, Senator O'Loughlin. We will take two and a half minutes each. Cuirim fáilte ar ais go dtí an Teach seo roimh an Aire. We in Fianna Fáil fully support this motion. Along with others, we have consistently called for action to be taken in this area. I compliment my colleague, Senator O'Loughlin, who has been very proactive in this particular area and who has introduced legislation that would go a long way towards dealing with this particular problem. It is saddening and worrying that hate speech and hate crime are on the rise and getting nastier with each passing day. That is a very worrying and very sad development. Unfortunately, there is no provision to criminalise hate speech at an EU level. As I understand it, this motion is the first step along the road towards the introduction of legislation in this regard. Once this has passed through all the EU states, a number of states will then be able to bring in legislation that will go some way towards addressing this particular issue.

We will absolutely have to legislate in this particular area but I feel that national awareness campaigns not only in this country, but in countries across the EU, such as many have called for, may be necessary to educate people on this whole area. It is sad that we should have to do that but, unfortunately, it appears that we do. In this country, we have to start in our schools. We need to educate people. There is no doubt that there are many benefits to social media but there is also a sickening element. As has been outlined in contributions this afternoon, many people have been victims of that. That is clearly very sad and not good enough. I agree with those who are calling for a national awareness campaign to educate people as to the rights and wrongs of social media. I welcome this motion and look forward to the introduction of legislation to deal with this issue.