Minority groups ‘unable to engage’ with justice system equally

People belonging to minority groups are struggling to access the justice system, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

The committee was told that language barriers, racism and bias are leading to ethnic minorities, LGBTQ people and those who are mentally ill unable to vindicate their legal rights.

Salome Mbugua, founder of AkiDwA (a national network of migrant women living in Ireland), said there are problems with translation services.

She said she had received reports of incorrect translation, which can have serious consequences, especially for international-protection applicants. Sometimes, when a woman has reported a gender-based crime, a young man is sent to translate for her, which is inappropriate, said Dr Mbugua.

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“There are children translating for parents in domestic violence situations, or in hospitals.”

The language barrier, along with different cultural expressions and mannerisms, leads to people feeling misunderstood when they report a crime to gardaí, speak to a solicitor or go to court, said Dr Mbugua.

“Cultural competency training is needed, so is unconscious bias training.”

Victims of human trafficking are also terrified to approach gardaí as they fear deportation, she added.

There also needs to be a specific task force for migrant youth, as they are experiencing racial profiling from gardaí, especially young black men, according to Dr Mbugua.

Hate crimes

Members of the LGBTQ community do not feel confident reporting hate crimes to gardaí, according to Collette O’ Regan from LGBT Ireland.

“They don’t know how gardaí will react. We have anecdotal evidence of negative experiences when reporting these crimes . . . more training is needed.”

Bernard Joyce, director of the Irish Traveller Movement, said there have been tensions between Travellers and gardaí in the past.

He said in a Garda study from 2014, which was published only last year, not a single frontline member surveyed expressed a positive view of the Travelling community.

The Irish Traveller Movement has heard of cases where Travellers living on halting sites called 999, but gardaí never came or the response time was slow.

Travellers also face challenges getting legal representation due to bias, according to Mr Joyce, and a dedicated free legal aid service is needed.

It was also difficult to take a case in relation to accessing housing, employment and the refusal of entry and services, he added.

Concerns were also raised about the interaction between gardaí and people with mental health issues.

Mental health

John Farrelly, chief executive of the Mental Health Commission, said there needs to be a 24/7 statutory social work service that gardaí can call on when dealing with people who are experiencing a mental health issue. This was recommended as far back as 2009 in a joint report from the commission and gardaí.

“Twelve years later and none of these recommendations have come to fruition. At most, we can say that there has been some limited expansion of training for gardaí, but not to the level required,” said Mr Farrelly.

Orla Keane, general counsel for the commission, said the number of involuntary detention applications made by gardaí under the Mental Health Act has increased.

Last year 32 per cent of involuntary detentions in Ireland were made under section 12 which is supposed to be used for emergencies, according to Ms Keane.

She also called for more transparency and noted that “616 of these applications went through last year, but gardaí told us that they initiated 5,700 odd applications. What happened to the other 5,100?”

She said gardaí should not be expected to make these applications and the time period for these detentions should be reduced to six hours maximum.