The number of people prosecuted under existing hate crime legislation remains low despite a large increase in attacks on minority groups in recent years.
Since 2018 just 16 cases have been finalised in the District Court under the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989. No case has been finalised under the legislation so far this year.
The figures, which were released under Freedom of Information legislation, show that all the prosecutions related to “actions likely to stir up hatred”. There have been no prosecutions under the second part of the act which criminalises “preparations and possession of materials likely to stir up hatred”.
Since 2022 gardaí and civil society groups had noted a marked increase in violence and racist rhetoric targeting immigrant groups, particularly asylum seekers which have been arriving in record numbers in recent years.
The latest figures underscore the difficulty in bringing prosecutions under the 1989 legislation. Gardaí and legal experts have long complained that the act is overly broad, out of date and difficult to enforce. This prompted the current Government to introduce the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill, to make it easier to prosecute hate speech, including material posted on social media.
However, this week, in the face of significant criticism from both Government and Opposition TDs, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee confirmed she would not be moving forward with aspects of the Bill concerning hate speech. A version of the Bill which mandates tougher sentences for crimes with a hate motive, such as racist assaults, will proceed.
The figures released to The Irish Times show that of the 16 people charged with hate crime offences since 2018, two received a prison term from the District Court. This includes one person who was jailed for 155 days in 2020.
Another two people received fines, while one was given probation meaning they were left without a criminal conviction. Three cases were struck out by a judge, while four were sent forward for a jury trial in the Circuit Criminal Court. The result of those trials was not available in the data.
While the conviction rate for incitement to hatred remains extremely small it is still slightly higher than in previous years. Between the passage of the legislation in 1989 and 2017, just five convictions were recorded under the act.
Figures from An Garda Síochána state 651 hate crimes and “hate-related incidents” were reported in 2023, a 12 per cent increase on 2022 and a 33 per cent increase on 2021.
In 38 per cent of last year’s cases there was a racist motive involved. There was a xenophobic motive in 19 per cent of cases, and a homophobic motive in 17 per cent.
A report released this week by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an anti-extremism group, documented 61 incidents of minorities being subject to racist intimidation or violence over a four-month period this year. Most of the incidents involved “overt racist abuse or intimidation being directed at the victim” while a third involved “acts of physical violence towards individuals or damage to their property”.
Some 70 per cent of incidents were filmed by the assailant, with the footage being shared online and sometimes going viral in far-right circles.
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