A judge in the Dublin Metropolitan District Court is to rule tomorrow whether a case against a bus driver charged under the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act is to proceed.
Judge Patrick Brady last week heard evidence from witnesses that Mr Gerry O'Grady, a driver with Dublin Bus, told Mr Mathew John, a black man, that he should go back to his own country. Two witnesses said they heard Mr O'Grady use the phrase "nig-nogs".
The case continued yesterday and counsel for Mr O'Grady, Mr Sean Gillane, said his client was charged under an Act which was never intended as anti-discrimination legislation. "It doesn't purport to criminalise racism . . . it doesn't criminalise discriminatory behaviour," he said.
"The prosecution is seeking to have an interpretation placed which has been explicitly rejected by the Oireachtas." The words "go back to your own country" and "nig-nogs" were belittling but could not be regarded as inciting hatred, Mr Gillane said.
He said in another case involving the Prohibition on Incitement to Hatred Act in March 1999, Mr John Flannery, a councillor in Mayo, was acquitted after the judge acknowledged he had blurted out comments about Travellers before he knew what he was saying.
Mr O'Grady had made remarks in a similar context. "What he said was in the context of a loss of temper rather than to stir up hatred," he said.
Mr Gillane said the black man who was with Mr John on the bus had made no complaint. Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms Claire Loftus, said Mr O'Grady had behaved in a manner which had been likely to stir up hatred. "As the person in authority, he chose to make not one, not two, but three remarks."
She said witnesses had given evidence that Mr O'Grady was abusive and aggressive. "It was clear from his agitation that he meant everything he said."
The incident happened in Maynooth on May 21st last year.