Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Senator Higgins warned against creating fear around the existence of transgender people. I think that is a concern that everybody can share. Everybody should be against any creation of fear around transgender people. Senator McDowell, who spoke eloquently, put his finger on it when he said that the important word is "empathic". There is a different thing when we talk about the activity of trans activists and the implications of that activity for child protection, in particular, and for the protection of women's safety and privacy. That is a live issue in our society thanks to the ideology that has access to the Government and is not opposed by the Minister as long she goes with this controversial definition of "gender".

I would like to remind the Minister of something in passing. Some people here may be familiar with the crime novels of Michael Connelly and the character of Hieronymus Bosch, otherwise known as Harry Bosch. He has a phrase he resorts to in these novels: "Everyone counts or nobody counts". That expresses my concern about the exclusivity.

I endorse everything Senator McDowell has said about the capacity of the courts to take hatred into account in whatever form it manifests itself. It seems, having listened to what he said, that there is no actual substance in this Bill in terms of what it will change in practice other than one thing - the radical definition of "gender". I draw the Minister's attention to that because of what she said earlier about the lack of concern for protection. People are protected in the law as it stands if they are attacked, regardless of whatever category of person they are. As we heard, judges are in a position to take into account the particular circumstances, including hatred against a minority group. Let us not pretend it is a free-for-all against minorities in our society at the moment as far as crime goes. There are regular prosecutions, and rightfully so. We know the number of hate-related crimes. It is about 600 or 700 according to the last year's statistics from the Garda. They are a small percentage of the crime, criminality and attacks on persons that take place in our society. I think there were something like 22,000 assaults in 2022. The Government could stand accused of virtue signalling in relation to one category of crime where redress is available, including redress that takes account of a hate motive, and failing to do enough in relation to a vastly greater number of victims of crime and attack.

I draw the Minister's attention to my amendment No. 100 which, accepting the principle that there will be groups who will have particular protection in this area, is based on the idea that if the Government is going to do that, it should be as inclusive as possible. The amendment refers to "hatred towards a group of persons on account of the group being defined by reference to characteristics common to the group, whether age, communication difficulties, colour, disability, family connections, health, nationality, national status, [here are the key words] gender, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, political views or affiliation [that counts too], religion, race, sex characteristics or sexual orientation". That is what I have said in my amendment, and the Minister should acknowledge that I am not proposing the exclusion of people who have gender identity issues, however they express themselves.

I must draw the Minister's attention to the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017, which gets it right. It refers to "gender" and "gender identity or expression" as a basis for victimising people. To make this controversy go away, all the Minister needs to do is say that she will think about this and she will make that change. I defy her to tell me - certainly, Senator Ward was not able to tell me on Newstalk today - how that would lessen in any way the protection she wants to give to people who may be victims of crime based on hatred towards their gender identity or expression. It is because she is redefining "gender" that she is doing a serious disservice. As the Minister knows, I have personal respect for her and her family, which will continue, but I must say in all seriousness - I am not grandstanding - that when she faces the electorate in a few weeks, she will not deserve the vote of any parent of schoolgoing children-----