- Minister McEntee launches findings of wide ranging consultation which received over 3,600 submissions
- Consultation report is an important step towards new hate crime laws for Ireland
- Minister commits to bring Draft Legislation to Cabinet by Easter
17 December, 2020
Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee TD, 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 the experiences of those impacted by hate speech and hate crime.
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.
Launching the findings of the consultation, Minister 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 (outlined below), 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.
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.
Speaking about the development of the legislation, Minister McEntee said,
“As Minister for Justice, I am determined to tackle these crimes and to ensure that those who seek to divide our communities and spread hatred and fear, including online, are dealt with effectively by our criminal justice system. I want perpetrators to know that their crimes will be reported, investigated and prosecuted.
There is no place for hate crime in our society. The legislation will deal with situation where perpetrators seek to incite other people to hatred from behind the protection of a screen or an anonymous account. This is an important factor in order for this legislation to be as effective as possible in tackling all forms of hate speech.”
“Regarding the fundamental constitutional right of freedom of expression, I want to assure people that this legislation will be proportionate, specific, and clear, with offences capable of being proven beyond reasonable doubt. There will be no confusion as to what constitutes criminal hate speech.
“It is my hope we will develop a strong and effective legislative infrastructure to help tackle this serious form of crime which will also be evidence-based, while respecting important rights to freedom of expression and association.
Finally, Minister McEntee addressed those who have been affected by hate crime in Ireland.
“I want anyone who is a victim of hate crime to know that it is safe for them to come forward and report these crimes. I want them to know that there are professional, trained Gardaí available to speak to them, and that they will be treated with care and understanding and their complaint will be treated seriously and followed up by An Garda Siochana.
The Report of the consultation is published on the Department’s website here:Legislating for Hate Speech and Hate Crime in Ireland Report
ENDS…/
Notes for Editors
What is a hate crime?
A hate crime occurs where an offence is committed (for example assault or criminal damage), but where the victim is targeted because of their association, in the mind of the perpetrator, with a particular identity characteristic, e.g. sexual orientation or ethnicity.
Current Legislative Positon
Ireland does not currently have any specific legislation to deal with hate crime. The only legislation in Ireland that deals with hate-based offences is the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989. Although criminal hate speech is an offence, the bar is high and there have been very few prosecutions since its introduction.
Public Consultation Findings
Drawing on the findings from the public consultation, as well as the qualitative data gathered in the stakeholder workshops, the report proposes ten conclusions:
- The 1989 Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act is not effective in dealing with incitement to hatred and should be replaced by a single piece of legislation to deal with both incitement to hatred and hate crime.
- The characteristics protected by the new legislation should include all of those listed in the 1989 Act, and also gender, gender expression or identity, and disability.
- The definition of ‘ethnicity’ in the new legislation should explicitly include membership of the Travelling Community on the same footing as other ethnicities.
- New offences of incitement to hatred are needed and should prohibit:
(i) deliberately or recklessly inciting hatred against a person or group of people due to their association with a protected characteristic; and,
(ii) displaying or distributing material inciting hatred.
- The new legislation should contain robust safeguards for freedom of expression, such as protections for reasonable and genuine contributions to literary, artistic, political, scientific or academic discourse, and fair and accurate reporting.
- Thresholds for criminal incitement to hatred should be high, for example incitement to harm or unlawful discrimination, However, it should not be necessary to show that anyone was actually influenced by the incitement or persuaded to act upon it.
- A company accused of displaying or distributing hateful material should be able to defend itself by showing that it has reasonable measures in place to prevent dissemination of this type of material in general, was complying with those measures at the time, was unaware, and had no reason to suspect that this particular content was inciteful.
- To be meaningful, the new legislation must also deal effectively with hate crime. Threatening and abusive communications, criminal damage, harassment, assault and intimidation are all common forms of hate crime as described by participants in this consultation and specific, aggravated forms of existing criminal offences should be included in the legislation to deal with these and ensure that such crimes are properly categorised and recorded.
- Additional elements may be needed to help ensure the new legislation is effective, such as allowing alternative verdicts for juries where the aggravating ‘hate’ element is not proven, and including a general provision (for crimes that are not specific hate offences) to say that a court will always consider whether hate should be an aggravating factor in sentence and, where it is, that this will be reflected in the record.
- Not every hate incident is serious enough to be a crime - many incidents are better dealt with outside the criminal sphere and proper measures to ensure this happens will be needed.
What about the fundamental right to freedom of expression?
All legislative proposals are developed and put forward bearing in mind the provisions of the Constitution and our human rights obligations including those contained in the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003.
The right to freedom of expression will therefore be fully considered in the development and drafting of any new legislation by the Office of the Attorney General.