Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has today launched the findings from the public consultation on Hate Speech and Hate Crime.
She also announced her intention to bring forward new legislation to combat incitement to hatred and hate crime in Ireland in 2021
These plans follow a thorough consideration of over 3600 submissions (more than 175 of which were detailed written submissions) to a public consultation, and in-depth consultation with various civil society and community groups, academics and experts.
The purpose of the consultation was to ensure the Department could identify how Ireland’s law in this area could be improved, based on a clear understanding of the experiences of those impacted by hate speech and hate crime.
Victims
The Minister said that many of those who participated in the consultation have been victims themselves, while others are concerned about the very real need to respect the human rights of everyone involved, including the right to freedom of speech, so that the new legislation is proportionate, as well as effective in achieving its aims.
Ms McEntee said: “A key element of this consultation was gaining an understanding of the lived experience of victims of hate crime and hate speech who have been targeted because of something innate to them, that they cannot change, like their race, their sexuality or their disability.
“Many of those who participated have been victims themselves and what we have learned is that victims of hate crime are made to feel afraid for the future, not just for themselves but for their friends, their loved ones, their children. This type of fear can lead to a more divided society, where whole communities can feel unsafe.
“This consultation is a really useful contribution toward the development of new criminal legislation to deal with hate crime and incitement to hatred. I intend to bring the Heads of a Bill to Cabinet by Easter 2021.”
The conclusions of the consultation, together with the Department’s research on the effectiveness of legislative approaches internationally will now be used to develop the General Scheme of a new Hate Crime Bill. This new legislation will be just one element in a wide suite of measures across all areas of Government, which are designed to address hatred and intolerance.
Incitement to hatred and hate crime
The new law will cover both incitement to hatred and hate crime. The new hate crime offences will be aggravated versions of existing crimes, for example offences against the person, criminal damage or public order offences, where they are carried out because of prejudice against a protected characteristic.
Creating these new offences will mean that a crime can be investigated as a potential hate crime by gardaí, and evidence of the hate element can be presented in court.
Where the jury finds that the crime was a hate crime based on the evidence, and convicts the person of a hate crime, the enhanced penalty for the new offence will available to the judge at sentencing.
Where the jury finds that the hate element is not proven, they will still be able to convict the person of the ordinary form of the offence.
