Crime Prevention Dail Éireann — 2026-06-25 ============================================================ Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South I thank Deputy Ward for raising this issue. It is appropriate that he raises it during Pride week. Part of the reason we have Pride week is not just for the purpose of people being able openly to celebrate their sexuality, but also to recognise that historically people who were gay were suppressed and were not able to express their sexuality within society in the way that other people could do. It is therefore very appropriate that Deputy Ward has raised this issue. I should also inform the House that I have just come from the Seanad, where I am very pleased to say that Committee Stage of the Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 has passed. It included, as the Deputy knows, and because he spoke very much in favour of it, a disregard scheme that is going to disregard historic convictions made against persons because of their sexuality. It is shocking that any previous generation or the current generation would seek to discriminate against a person because of an inherent characteristic, whether it is their race or religion, or, in this context, their sexual orientation. Not just from what the Deputy has said but from gay friends speaking to me, I am concerned about the fact that we seem to be regressing when it comes to abusive comments being made about individuals who are gay. In many instances, that emanates from individuals who are youths or children. As the Deputy and I know, it is founded upon ignorance and prejudice. In terms of the laws that are in place, however, the primary focus of concern the Deputy has raised is around what laws are there and whether I am satisfied with what the Department and the Garda can do where that abuse becomes physically threatening, incites violence or leads to the commission of violence. As the Deputy knows, in 2024, the Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act was commenced. It was commenced at the end of 2024 and has put in place a separate statutory provision which provides that if somebody is convicted of an offence such as assault which is motivated by hate, as in the instance of somebody being assaulted because they were gay, that will result in an increased tariff that can be imposed by the court when that person is being sentenced. I very much welcome that legislation. We need to give it time to bed in. The Deputy will be aware that we are seeing circumstances where the hate factor is being taken into account by the courts or during the course of the prosecutions. That is one thing that is being done. More important than that is the resources of An Garda Síochána. Historically, the Garda, like many other police forces around the world, may not have been sufficiently sensitive to these types of offences or may not have recognised that they are offences that are motivated by hate. I must say that has now changed. The Garda now has approximately 666 diversity officers. They are very well informed. They recognise the need to ensure there is greater protection for individuals, such as gay people, who find themselves being subjected to a criminal assault. I am satisfied with the resources that are in place. The Deputy also mentioned hate speech. We have incitement to hatred legislation in place and I believe it is sufficient. I also believe, however, that the origin of this prejudice and discrimination is ignorance. We need to educate people more about the inappropriateness of condemning, criticising or abusing people because of an inherent characteristic such as their human sexuality. There is a broader body of work that needs to be done outside of the criminal justice system, as I am sure the Deputy appreciates. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-25/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:51+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-25