Taoiseach Simon Harris and Roderic O’Gorman said they want to see hate crime legislation being passed by the Oireachtas before the Government’s term comes to an end.
“I want to see hate crime legislation passed in the lifetime of this Government,” said Mr Harris, adding that Minister for Justice Helen McEntee would be bringing forward amendments to the legislation in the autumn term.
Both were responding to a report in The Irish Times disclosing death threats made to, and physical attacks on, asylum seekers who are sleeping in tents on Dublin’s streets, after their locations were shared on social media.
Mr Harris said some amendments had to be made to the Bill. “There were some issues raised around making sure that nothing in the hate speech section would interact or override the absolute importance and vital nature of freedom of speech,” he said.
Mr O’Gorman described the attacks on tents as an “incredibly serious situation”.
He said: “It reminds us of the vulnerability of people sleeping rough, and it reminds us of the fact that there are people out there right now who are actively threatening people because of their nationality and their ethnicity.
“It emphasises the importance of hate crime legislation.”
He said Ireland was one of the few countries in Europe that had not legislated for hate crimes. He said the Bill had been discussed by the three party leaders in Government and he was eager to see it progressed as quickly as possible.
[ Hate speech Bill delayed until autumnOpens in new window ]
Asked about the Government’s accommodation strategy for those seeking international protection, Mr O’Gorman said the Government was pursuing a twin strategy of responding to those who have yet to be offered accommodation as well as building a core of State-owned accommodation of more than 13,000 beds.
Three State-owned sites for temporary accommodation are already in operation at Crooksling and Ballyogan, Co Dublin, and at Newtownmountkennedy in Co Wicklow. He said a lot of work had been done in readiness for opening a fourth site in north Dublin, Thornton Hall.
“We would hope to see people accommodated there in the next number of weeks, initially in tented accommodation and then looking to put more permanent, longer-term accommodation and modular-type accommodation in place.”
He said that providing State-owned accommodation would lead to long-term savings compared with paying private providers for emergency accommodation, as has been the case until now.
Mr Harris portrayed those behind the attacks as a tiny minority. “This is a great country that should never allow our image to be distorted by those who are never elected, generally don’t seek elected office, those who, on occasion, hijack our flag and who seek to portray us as we’re not.
“We are a decent, compassionate people. Yes, Irish people want to see common sense when it comes to migration. They want all of us in Government to support the work of Mr O’Gorman in moving to a sustainable system of accommodation.
“All of us as citizens have to start calling out the hate, the ugliness and the racism every time it raises its head. And we shouldn’t just do it in a whisper, and we should do it loudly and we should do it clearly, because it is not who we are,” he said.
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