2026-06-25

I thank the Minister for coming in to take this issue. It is important, particularly in this week of Pride, that we acknowledge there are still issues concerning the LGBT community and the confidence it might have in the prosecution of offences or the following up of allegations related to events that clearly have a hate motivation to them. In June 2024, when I was a Senator, I raised an issue in the Seanad about two young men who were pursued through Phoenix Park with hammers and knives and who were very frightened, for understandable reasons, by an attack during which there were repeated shouts of homophobic slurs at them. I do not want to or expect the Minister to go into the details of that case because I do not know the status of the prosecution. People were brought before the courts in relation to the matter, and that is a matter for the courts. The point I wanted to make was that I raised that issue. I give credit to the gardaí involved for acting swiftly. Somebody was apprehended, and that will follow due course. The point I am making is that in Ireland of 2024, or indeed Ireland of 2026, the kind of thing I have described is still happening. In 2024, there was still hate crime, hate speech or incitement to hatred legislation before these Houses that was due to become law. It was essentially watered down before it did and it has been abandoned. There are those people who think it is acceptable to behave in a way that threatens and frightens members of a particular community, not for any good reason but simply because they are members of that community, and they think they can do that with impunity. Of course, we have incitement to hatred legislation dating back to the early 1990s, which we know is largely ineffective because there has only been a sum total of about 50 prosecutions under it. Of course it is an offence to intimidate somebody anyway. It is an offence to threaten somebody. There were ancillary offences in that prosecution that were not necessarily based on the hate crime element of it. My understanding is that very often in these cases, when people are brought before the Garda for interview or brought before the courts to account for what they have done, they will say their action was not hate motivated and was not because the victims were members of the LGBT community, for example. My concern is that the law is not equipped to address the hate element properly. Listening to members of the LGBT community, I have noted that they are concerned that gardaí are either ill-equipped or unable to deal with these matters in a way that satisfies them that they are safe. I know the Minister will agree that this is something we have to remedy. We cannot have a situation where ordinary, law-abiding, decent people are being persecuted by a tiny section of society that has some misguided belief that it should or can pursue these people, as I say, not for any good reason but simply because of who they are and, in this instance, because of their sexual orientation. It cannot be allowed to continue. It must be stopped. The reason I am raising this issue with the Minister is not just because this is Pride Week, although it is and so it is appropriate. I would really like him to set out the steps his Department is putting in place to give confidence to the LGBT community, and to show them in a concrete manner that we are serious as a body politic about tackling this issue and sending out a message to anybody who thinks he or she can behave this way that it will not be tolerated, that there will be prosecutions, that there will be serious consequences from the courts, and that the Minister is satisfied that An Garda Síochána and the criminal court system have everything they need to prosecute these offences, hold people to account and mete out the appropriate punishments that will be effective in stopping this kind of behaviour.

I thank Deputy Ward for raising this issue. It is appropriate that he raises it during Pride week. Part of the reason we have Pride week is not just for the purpose of people being able openly to celebrate their sexuality, but also to recognise that historically people who were gay were suppressed and were not able to express their sexuality within society in the way that other people could do. It is therefore very appropriate that Deputy Ward has raised this issue. I should also inform the House that I have just come from the Seanad, where I am very pleased to say that Committee Stage of the Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 has passed. It included, as the Deputy knows, and because he spoke very much in favour of it, a disregard scheme that is going to disregard historic convictions made against persons because of their sexuality. It is shocking that any previous generation or the current generation would seek to discriminate against a person because of an inherent characteristic, whether it is their race or religion, or, in this context, their sexual orientation. Not just from what the Deputy has said but from gay friends speaking to me, I am concerned about the fact that we seem to be regressing when it comes to abusive comments being made about individuals who are gay. In many instances, that emanates from individuals who are youths or children. As the Deputy and I know, it is founded upon ignorance and prejudice. In terms of the laws that are in place, however, the primary focus of concern the Deputy has raised is around what laws are there and whether I am satisfied with what the Department and the Garda can do where that abuse becomes physically threatening, incites violence or leads to the commission of violence. As the Deputy knows, in 2024, the Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act was commenced. It was commenced at the end of 2024 and has put in place a separate statutory provision which provides that if somebody is convicted of an offence such as assault which is motivated by hate, as in the instance of somebody being assaulted because they were gay, that will result in an increased tariff that can be imposed by the court when that person is being sentenced. I very much welcome that legislation. We need to give it time to bed in. The Deputy will be aware that we are seeing circumstances where the hate factor is being taken into account by the courts or during the course of the prosecutions. That is one thing that is being done. More important than that is the resources of An Garda Síochána. Historically, the Garda, like many other police forces around the world, may not have been sufficiently sensitive to these types of offences or may not have recognised that they are offences that are motivated by hate. I must say that has now changed. The Garda now has approximately 666 diversity officers. They are very well informed. They recognise the need to ensure there is greater protection for individuals, such as gay people, who find themselves being subjected to a criminal assault. I am satisfied with the resources that are in place. The Deputy also mentioned hate speech. We have incitement to hatred legislation in place and I believe it is sufficient. I also believe, however, that the origin of this prejudice and discrimination is ignorance. We need to educate people more about the inappropriateness of condemning, criticising or abusing people because of an inherent characteristic such as their human sexuality. There is a broader body of work that needs to be done outside of the criminal justice system, as I am sure the Deputy appreciates.

I thank the Minister and appreciate the acknowledgment that this behaviour is ongoing. It is important to say clearly that there is a problem. I also appreciate what the Minister said about the legislation that was passed and commenced in 2024. However, I am not convinced that it is sufficient. What it does is to give greater discretion to a judge to consider a particular hate element to be an aggravating factor. There is certainly a part of me that would have thought it should not have been necessary to put that into law. I do not know, for example, what training is being provided to judges to deal with hate aspects of crimes that come before them for sentence. My big problem is that we had much stronger hate legislation with the Bill that was before these Houses. It was watered down in amendments on subsequent Stages. There is not really the provision of a hate crime. It is probably unfair to ask the Minister on the hoof the number of prosecutions that involved an increased tariff on sentence because of a hate element. I do not know if the Minister would have those figures to hand. However, that is a matter we should be looking at because if it is the case that it is a very small number, that is a demonstration that legislation that is now on the Statute Book and has been operational for 18 months is not being effectively used to tackle these things. Of course, we have to give it time but an analysis after 18 months gives us a reasonable assessment of whether the legislation is being used. I also acknowledge what the Minister said about disregard scheme. I absolutely agree with that, and it is overdue, but it is not relevant to this discussion. Of course we send out the message to people but the real issue in this Topical Issue I am raising with the Minister is that a lot of people who are members of the LGBT community either do not feel safe or feel that when something happens to them, which is demonstrably motivated by hate, there is not an adequate response from the system. That is something we have to tackle because if we fail to do so, it creates a much greater problem.

I thank the Deputy. It is worthwhile having this debate and discussion. My own view, as Minister for justice, is that An Garda Síochána, which is responsible for investigating the types of criminal offences to which the Deputy referred, is vigilant and aware of ensuring thorough investigations in respect of crimes that are motivated by hate. We see that in respect of people who are gay. We see it in respect of people because of their race. Once somebody assaults another person or commits a crime against that person, there must be an absolute commitment by An Garda Síochána to ensure that the crime is thoroughly investigated. I regret to say that many crimes such as these in Ireland are motivated by the ignorance and prejudice of the attacker. It is difficult to determine the best way to reduce and respond to ignorance and prejudice in any society. The criminal justice system obviously plays a necessary role and I believe by having the hate offences legislation in place, we have that criminal justice response. The policing response is also necessary. When you look at the fact that we have 666 diversity officers, and the Garda takes these offences extremely seriously, it shows there is a policing response to it. Ultimately, the most significant response will be ensuring that people who are drowned in prejudice realise their prejudice emanates from a position and a place of ignorance. We all have a responsibility to try to emphasise again and again that discrimination, harassment or criminal attacks upon individuals because of inherent characteristics, such as their sexuality, is wholly unacceptable. Once that is explained to people, and it should be repeatedly explained to them because they need to be educated about it, there will be a positive response. I assure the Deputy that there is a vigilant legislative and policing response to these heinous crimes.