Government must legislate for hate crimes
Labour LGBT has reiterated its call for the introduction of hate crime legislation following a report published today where Ireland is shown to be seriously deficient in addressing hate crime.
Co-Chair of Labour LBGT Aoife Leahy commented on the matter:
“It’s not entirely surprising but nonetheless deeply disappointing to see that Ireland is shown to be seriously deficient in addressing hate crime as shown in the report The Lifecycle of a Hate Crime: Country Report for Ireland published by the Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. It’s deeply concerning that transgender people are a particular target.
“For many years Labour LGBT has been calling for legislation to address hate crimes in Ireland, and we stand strongly with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties on this.
“Directing intentional harm upon members of the LGBT community and other minorities is an extremely serious matter and should be treated as such.
“We have come so far in Ireland in recent years with the introduction of Marriage Equality, the Gender Recognition Act and the decisive vote of the people to repeal the Eighth Amendment. It’s not too much to ask for that those who inflict harm on minorities be held to account and we are asking the government to set about drafting this legislation immediately.”