Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said to Senator Bruton, "as you will be aware, transgender and non-binary people, domestically and internationally, are unfortunately and increasingly targeted by hate crime offenders. The meaning of gender for the purposes of this legislation therefore has to recognise that offenders target individuals based on non-conforming gender identities like non-binary, in addition to binary gender identities such as male or female." That is not true because the distinctive terms "gender and gender identity or expression" could be used in order to address the concern there in the first line. The Minister goes on to say, "The hate crime Bill is concerned with offenders' behavior and not the victim's legal status etc." There no issue there. She goes on to say: "Inclusion of the broader meaning of gender in the Bill to include transgender and non-binary persons was on foot of recommendations from civil society organisations representing a vulnerable and minority group, including the coalition against hate crime, as part of the pre-legislative scrutiny process." She does not mention BelongTo We are talking here about activist groups that have had access to the ear of the Government. The Government has not, in the 15 months or so since the Second Stage-----