Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister back. I cannot believe she has slipped, hyper fluid, into our national Statute Book already but I suppose one should never doubt a busy woman with a lot of focus.

As others have said, we have a version of hate crime legislation but the term "toothless" has been used a number of times in reference to the 1989 Act. Ireland is an outlier currently, with reported hate crimes having increased by 29% in 2022, a figure referred to by the Minister. While legislation alone will not tackle the scourge of hate and extremism, it is part of a wider response to making clear that hate crimes against people on account of their inherent identity will not be tolerated in Irish society.

The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act has been on the Statute Book since 1989 but it is widely regarded as ineffective and not fit for purpose. We need to update our approach to the incitement of hatred, especially in the online world where hatred and targeted prejudice is organised through the Internet, social media and online platforms. As has been described previously, the 1989 legislation is toothless. We are probably going to get a bit sick of that particular terminology over the next couple of weeks.

Why do we need specific hate crime law? I will discuss the merits of this particular hate crime Bill because I do not believe the current legislation does address hate crime, which is the ultimate signal crime. In targeting a person's inherent identity, the hate crime perpetrator instils fear into the entire community that shares the victim's protected characteristic. We have referenced today the incident in Navan and the ripple effect it has had on the LGBT community and not just the young members of that community. Every single week I hear through the gay grapevine about yet another person who has been abused, verbally assaulted or even physically assaulted on our streets because they are visibly a member of the LGBT community. That is only one community of which I can speak. I cannot speak of other communities but I am sure there are other people in this House who can speak of the consistent and constant hatred that is being perpetrated against communities that never makes it into the national media. It is having an incredibly negative and awful impact on members of those communities when this hate is being perpetrated against them.

The effect of a hate-motivated attack is chilling. According to findings from the National Crime Victimization Survey on LGBT hate crimes in the United States, LGBTQ victims of hate crime are 12 times more likely to experience to acute distress in comparison to being victimised by other crimes. Yet, in the absence of specific legislation, the hate element in the crime gets filtered out during the judicial process. I strongly encourage everyone in this room to look at the work of Dr. Séamus Taylor in this area, who writes about the impact of sentencing with or without taking hate into consideration as a motivating factor. He has done some really interesting research on this in other jurisdictions, including how hate is included or not included as a motivation.

As far back as 2016 the National LGBT Federation, NXF, Burning Issues survey was published. This is a really comprehensive piece of research into the views and priorities of the LGBTQ+ community. The survey revealed that hate crime legislation was the number one legislative priority for that community. In the years since, the scourge of hate and abuse has become even more profound, facilitated in large part by the wild west nature of the online world and bad actors who are moving into that space. However, they are not only in the online space; they are out and about on our streets and we all know of them. According to research published by the NXF in early 2022, 90% of the public agrees that hate crime needs to be effectively addressed by Irish law.

An interesting piece of research was published by the Irish Research Council earlier today. I doubt if many in the room have had a chance to look at it. The council funded research by members of the European Centre for the Study of Hate at the University of Limerick, and Dr. Kevin Brown of Queen's University Belfast.A representative sample of 1,000 people in Ireland were surveyed by Amárach Research in January 2023. It is extremely up to date. The data were weighted to ensure they were representative on the basis of age, gender and region. The research found that more than two thirds of those asked are in favour of hate crime legislation regardless of the model employed. There is strong support in Ireland for hate crime legislation. We are debating this particular Bill but I understand from the people I have spoken to that there is very strong support for hate crime legislation regardless of the model employed.

I will go into further detail on this research. A total of 80% are in favour of treating as a hate crime those crimes in which the offender is motivated by prejudice against the victim's group. A total of 79% are in favour of treating as a hate crime those crimes in which the offenders chose their victims because of the group the victims belong to. A total of 67% are in favour of treating as a hate crime those crimes in which the offender uses prejudicial language towards the victim's group when committing the crime.

It seems from this research that people in Ireland are also in favour of a very inclusive approach in the legislation. More than 70% are in favour of older people, disabled people, gay and lesbian and bisexual people, black people, Jewish people, Muslims and Travellers being protected by legislation. A total of 82% favour the protection of transgender people in hate crime legislation. Let this sink in. A total of 82% favour the protection of transgender people in whatever form that hate crime legislation may take in Ireland. This is a very important statistic and figure for us to consider as we debate this Bill over the coming weeks. Some of the narrative around this implies that very few people support transgender people being protected in hate crime legislation. The research released today, which was done in January 2023, shows that 82% of people favour the protection of transgender people in hate crime legislation.

I welcome that the Bill includes a demonstration test for hate crime cases. I have already mentioned Dr. Séamus Taylor who has highlighted the need for a demonstration test. If we want the legislation to have teeth and to be effective, as opposed to the 1989 legislation, perhaps a demonstration test is what will make it workable. The test of proof is supported by a number of NGOs working in this area. I am an actor turned activist turned legislator. I am neither a barrister nor a legal expert. My understanding from my analysis of other countries is that this demonstration test is used in Northern Ireland, England and Wales, which are our closest legal compatriots. I also understand that the inclusion of the demonstration test was a specific recommendation of the all-party Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice. We have various obligations under the Good Friday Agreement and other agreements to have comparable legislation throughout the island. My analysis of this is that the Bill is somewhat comparable to legislation that includes the demonstration test in Northern Ireland.

Hate crime legislation is significant and far overdue. This is the Bill we have in front of us. Many people have opinions on what the model could, should and ought to be. There were extensive and varying ways people could contribute and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice did much work on it. This is the Bill we have before us so it is the Bill on which I will focus. We regularly see homophobic prejudice, assaults and violent attacks in Ireland. As I said, we saw a 14-year-old visibly queer student in Navan being attacked because of who they are. Following this assault BeLonG To made a statement that according to 2022 research 76% of LGBTQ+ students feel unsafe in our post-primary schools. This is not good enough. We have to prioritise the safety and well-being of LGBTQ+ youth who are seriously at risk. The rise in anti-LGBTQ+ violence we have witnessed throughout Ireland over the past 18 months is incredibly distressing. BeLonG To is continuing its work to create safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youths in schools, homes and communities.

BeLonG To has also called for hate crime and hate speech legislation to be introduced to send a clear message that homophobia, biphobia and transphobia are not acceptable and for a clear roadmap from the Government on how to tackle the rise in discrimination and hate targeting minority communities. I can list endless attacks and assaults on members of the LGBTQ+ community. This legislation is needed to adequately protect us and members of my community who face it every day.

I want to speak briefly about gender and transphobia. As I have said on many occasions the Labour Party stands with trans people. We stand with trans women, trans men and non-binary people for whom this legislation is so desperately needed to protect. I reject outright any rhetoric that seeks to exclude trans and non-binary people from this legislation. Unfortunately transphobia has got worse over the past while. I know many trans people who are afraid of verbal and physical assault simply for being themselves. Such assault comes from a hatred towards who they are and it is not right. I cannot comprehend it or understand it. I cannot comprehend why this community is consistently at the butt-end of discrimination online with horrific comments against their bodies and personhood and who they are, when all they want to do is live and exist in this world and have a basic standard of living their truth just to exist. Imagine all you want to do in life is just to exist. We consistently have people online, in various Houses and in various political systems saying that this is not okay and that we will put all of these barriers in their place. They should be protected against this hatred. I cannot fathom how people do not stand against it. I do not understand it. We know that domestically and internationally trans and non-binary people are unfortunately targeted by hate crime offenders. They are violently physically assaulted and murdered all of the time throughout the world.

Hate crime legislation focuses on the behaviour of offenders and not on the victims' legal status. It addresses crimes motivated by hatred towards protected characteristics regardless of whether the victim possesses these characteristics. To ensure the effectiveness of the legislation, the definition of "protected characteristics" including gender must be fit for purpose. Irish case law dating back to 2011 has already established gender as inclusive of transgender identities. We can look at case law on this. As far as I understand it, case law is the standard by which we understand things to be.

My thoughts are particularly with the LGBT community because it is my community and I feel very strongly about it. Other people have spoken at length for other communities that need to be protected in this hate crime legislation. We cannot have hate crime legislation without doing anything about what may lead people to end up there. We have spoken about the impact of sending people to prison and pushing them to the margins of society and the impact this has on them. I am not entirely sure I am all that cracked on prison, to be perfectly honest, but it is the system we have and what we are working with. There is no point in beating around the bush on this. We need to have an education process. We have to educate communities on what is and is not hatred, and on who people are and who people should be, and we have to simply live and let live in society. This legislation should be a last resort. We should have a society where this is rarely used because we have built a society of tolerance, acceptance, inclusivity and community and we have given the resources to communities to be able to develop this skill set. This legislation should be a last resort. Hand in hand with this, we must see a very progressive and inclusive educational approach so we do not find ourselves in a situation where we need to use this legislation.