Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Development of the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence and Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 was informed by an extensive public consultation and research process that began in 2019. Subsequent research and ongoing consultation with stakeholders and experts have contributed to the development and progress of the Bill since that time, including close engagement with counterparts in the UK and Northern Ireland, with civil society and academia and with An Garda Síochána and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The report on the initial public consultation in 2019 considered all of the submissions received through five consultation strands and reached a number of conclusions based on their content. These conclusions were carefully considered during drafting of the Bill and form the basis of its provisions. The full details of the public consultation, including the submissions received across the five strands can be accessed at gov - Legislating for Hate Speech and Hate Crime in Ireland Report (www.gov.ie)

The Department of Justice also reported on the learnings from the approaches taken to hate crime in five jurisdictions in order to inform the development of the new legislation. The findings showed that all five jurisdictions criminalised hate crime in their legislation, with all jurisdictions taking an animus approach by placing the motivation of the offender at the centre of the offence. The comparative research report entitled 'Learnings from Approaches to Hate Crime in Five Jurisdictions' is included as an appendix to the report on the public consultation and can also be accessed at gov - Legislating for Hate Speech and Hate Crime in Ireland Report (www.gov.ie)

Officials of the Department consulted with counterparts in the UK on the inclusion of a demonstration test of proof as part of the development of the Bill. The demonstration test is a feature of UK hate crime legislation and was a key recommendation of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice for inclusion in the Bill “to ensure the legislation will be robust and will result in the effective prosecution of hate crime offences”. Data from the UK has shown that the number of prosecutions for hate offences is in line with general crime rates.

The Department of Justice has also engaged with the European Commission in relation to comparative legislation across EU Member States. The Commission has confirmed that all Member States have incitement to hatred laws in place. The majority relied on European Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law to give effect to these laws. The Commission has also indicated that Ireland is one of the last Member States to legislate for hate crime.

This Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence and Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 is currently before the Seanad and will be progressed in due course.