Saying “Ireland for the Irish” is tantamount to incitement to violence, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
Speaking to the media this week, the Taoiseach highlighted what he said was a trend of young people from migrant communities being afraid to go into town in case they’re attacked.
“Their parents might have been born abroad – they came to Ireland,” he said.
“The young people would have been born here uh and they’re afraid to go into town. They’re being attacked. One young man said to me that his sister was chased home the other day from school by people.”
The Taoiseach claimed that this was because of a “narrative” that was growing in society attempting to “other” people.
“This is because there’s a narrative growing in this country which is trying to ‘other’ people because of their color, their race, their creed,” he said.
“And I think the vast vast majority of Irish people recoil at this. But we have to be better, more strategic in dealing with this and engaging with this, because this is undermining the dignity of every child born in this country. We always cherish children and irrespective of the background.”
He added that phrases like “Ireland for the Irish” essentially amounted to incitement to violence.
“These attacks should not happen, and the type of language that we’re experiencing around ‘Ireland for the Irish’ and all of that is now having an impact where violence is happening, and it’s tantamount to an incitement.”
Earlier this year in July, Martin re-assured a campaigning NGO that his Government is still “committed” to updating Ireland’s hate speech legislation, and said he wants to bring the law into “compliance” with European standards.
In the discussion, the Taoiseach assured the NGO worker that the Government was “committed” to updating hate speech laws and said he planned to follow up with the Justice Minister on the issue.
“The [National LGBTIQ+ Inclusion] Strategy has committed to a modernisation of that Act,” he said.
The NGO worker replied: “Okay, so that is hopefully sooner rather than later?”
“I’m going to follow this up with the Minister for Justice, yeah,” said Martin.
The newly released National LGBTIQ+ Inclusion Strategy II pledges that the Government will introduce fresh hate speech and hate crime laws.
Within the plan’s “Safety” pillar, responsibility is placed on the Department of Justice and the Gardaí to run public awareness initiatives “upon enactment of hate crime legislation,” while Garda officers must also complete compulsory hate crime and cultural awareness training.
Another measure in the strategy commits the Government to “enact legislation to protect LGBTIQ+ people from discrimination, harm, and hatred.”
According to the strategy, these steps are required in response to “growing push-back on the advancement of LGBTIQ+ equality globally.”