Judges to get extra powers in racism plan

Special additional sanctions to be imposed by judges when they believe a crime has been racially motivated, will be among the commitments in a Government programme on racism.

The National Action Plan Against Racism, will be published by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, on Thursday and fulfils the key commitment made by the Government at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban in 2001.

Every Government Department has signed up to the plan which was signed off by the Cabinet last week. It will oblige every Department to take the increasingly multi-cultural society into account. Currently, for instance, the Department of Education has no policy on racial diversity.

The plan will address racism under five headings - protection, inclusion, provision, participation and recognition. A source said it aimed to ensure Ireland did not make the same "mistakes" as had been made in Britain "where many ethnic minorities live side-by-side with no interaction between them. It will aim to help ethnic minorities feel they are part of Irish society." To this end, under the "participation" heading, an Intercultural Forum will be established. It will include representatives of various ethnic groups in the policy-making and consultative process on an on-going basis.

Under "protection" the plan will provide for a revision of existing legislation, particularly that protecting against assaults and abuse, to ensure it is as effective as possible against race-crimes. It will say some legislation is being undressed in this regard.

The "inclusion" section will particularly focus on economic inclusion and oblige the plan to address the ethnic dimensions of marginalisation. Travellers will be particularly mentioned here. It will not, however, provide for the right to work for asylum seekers.

On "provision", equality of access to public services will be seen as critical, and it will highlight accommodation, education and health services. At the political level, parties will be called upon to ensure their recruitment drives include efforts to recruit ethnic minorities.

On the issue of "recognition" it is understood the plan will call for the drawing up of a media code on how issues relating to ethnic minorities are reported.

A steering committee will be announced on Thursday tasked with ensuring its implementation.

The NGO Alliance will today publish its shadow report on the Government's report to the UN on its progress combating racism here. The report is highly critical of the "Government's lack of leadership and action in challenging racism in Ireland".