(Photo credit: TENI – Transgender Equality Network Ireland/Facebook)
Helen McEntee, Ireland’s Minister for Justice, presented the Irish government with her approval on legislation that will criminalize incitement by any person to commit acts of hate against transgender people, those with disabilities and acts condoning, denial or gross trivialization of genocide such as the Nazi holocaust and war crimes.
The Irish Times reported that the new legislation will repeal the previous incitement to hatred laws and is intended to make prosecutions easier. However, the bar for a prosecution remains high — a defendant must have deliberately intended to incite hatred or violence against a person on account of their protected characteristic and there are defense’s for a reasonable and genuine contribution to literary, artistic, political, scientific or academic debates.
A person who seeks to incite hatred against a person or group with one of these characteristics may be guilty of an offense which could carry a penalty of up to five years in prison, the Times noted.
The Times also reported that the Minister for Justice intends to include a “demonstration test” in the bill, where guilt can be established if the perpetrator uses, for example, racial language or other evidence of hate against the victim. A demonstration test hinges on a perpetrator showing hostility towards someone with a “protected characteristic” at the time of an offence being committed. The cabinet was told this could include the use of hostile or prejudiced slurs, gestures, other symbols or graffiti.
The public’s input/comment process for the legislation received around around 4,000 responses and the Justice Department’s staff also consulted with outside leading experts with backgrounds in hate crimes, discrimination and the LGBTQ+ community.
