New laws could see people prosecuted over hate crimes

Proposed legislation to combat hate crime will be published this morning by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL).

Crimes, including theft, rape and assault, motivated by "hate" such as racism or homophobia are neither recorded nor prosecuted as such in Ireland.

The council says this means these types of crime are not being acknowledged, effectively disappearing from the criminal justice process and victims’ experiences are not acknowledged.

The proposed legislation, the Criminal Law (Hate Crime) Amendment Bill 2015, would name crimes against the person, property, sexual offences and public order offences as “hate” crimes when motivated by a bias on a range of grounds, including race, colour, ethnic origin, membership of a minority, gender, sexual orientation, age and disability.

It would not be necessary for the victim to identify with the ground on which they were attacked, only that the attacker perceived them to be a member of a group and targeted them because of it.

The council is publishing an accompanying report, 'Out of the Shadows: Legislating for Hate Crime in Ireland', by researchers at the University of Limerick (UL).

The authors interviewed victims, members of An Garda Síochána, members of civil society organisations and legal experts, and also surveyed 36 barristers. They found a consensus that hate crime was under-reported and under-recorded.

According to the CSO, in 2013 there were 113 hate crimes recorded – 94 racist, two anti-Semitic and 17 homophobic. The European Network Against Racism Ireland recorded 137 religiously or racist aggravated crimes in 2014, while between December 2014 and June 2015 the Gay Lesbian Equality Network recorded 19 homo- phobic/transphobic crimes .

The report and proposed legislation are written by Amanda Haynes and Jennifer Schweppe of the University of Limerick, and researcher James Carr.