April 2016 2 7
O
n March 8 this year - International
Women’s Day - Dubliner Victoria
Curtis posted a photograph of her
recently bruised face on Facebook,
and wrote:
“This is what misogyny looks like. This is
what being a faggot looks like. This is what hap-
pens women on Saturday nights walking home
with their friends. This is what a man did to me
after I told him it wasn’t cool for him to tell us to
take off our trousers, pull down our knickers
and show him our arses ...This is Ireland 2016”.
Curtis’ post went viral, grabbing the attention
of national radio, momentarily re-opening the
much needed national conversation about hate
crime. The discussion provided a sober
reminder, after marriage equality, that in spite
of formal equality before the law Ireland in 2016
isn’t yet an equally safe place for all who live
here.
Almost uniquely among members of the Euro-
pean Union (EU) and the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the
Republic of Ireland lacks effective hate-crime
legislation (not counting the inoperable 1989
Incitement to Hatred Act). In this regard our
government has come in for multiple criticisms
from the Council of Europe’s Commission
against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), the EU
Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), and the
United Nation’s Committee for the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination (CERD). It is likely also
that the State will be deemed in breach of the
2008 EU Framework Decision on Racism and
Xenophobia, and the 2012 Victims Directive.
For some years a coalition of NGOs represent-
ing, migrants, Travellers and other ethnic
minorities, lesbian, gay and transgender com-
munities, and disabled people, has been
working closely with members of the Oireach-
tas, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and
academics at the University of Limerick who
produced ‘Out of the Shadows’, an evidence-
based roadmap for addressing hate crime. It
was hoped that at its launch there would be an
announcement by government that it would pre-
sent the accompanying Criminal Law (Hate
Crime) Bill 2015 for enactment. The bill provides
a solid formal mechanism for gardaí to identify
a racist or other bias-motivated element in a
crime, and for the courts to consider this at sen-
tencing. It promised to be a very welcome first
step for groups most likely to be the targets of
bias-motivated violence. To the surprise of the
groups involved, this anticipated move by the
government did not happen.
Only days later, on July 22 2015 – Interna-
tional Day Against Hate Crime - The Examiner
broke the story about “Jane”, a working mother
living in west Dublin whose young family had
been subjected to a years-long and escalating
campaign of racist bullying, harassment,
threats and criminal damage, culminating in
two masked men spraying “Blacks Out” on her
living-room window and front door, and slash-
ing all the tyres on her car. After six years of
investing in relationships in her local commu-
nity Jane threw in the towel, took her children
out of school, and fled to stay with relatives in
Donegal. In spite of some of the best will,
Gardai and the local authority were powerless
to protect Jane and her children.
Jane’s experience is not unusual. The
iReport.ie confidential racist incident reporting
system, administered by the European Network
Against Racism (ENAR) Ireland, records around
140 criminal acts motivated by racism each
year, while the State with all its resources logs
fewer than 40. Action Against Racism (AAR) is
an ENAR-Ireland-supported campaigning group
comprising people who have experienced
racism and who are determined that our Repub-
lic should – as the name requires - promotes a
safe sense of belonging and participation for all
who live here. This year AAR launched the Love
Not Hate campaign to push for the enactment
of Hate Crime legislation by the nex govern-
ment. The campaign has produced promotional
material, including brochures and a video that
has gone viral, explaining how hate crime
works. On March 19, to mark European Day
Against Racism, members of AAR dressed as
love-hearts and offered free hugs to amused
shoppers on Dublin’s Grafton Street. The tactic
was very effective in supplementing the online
petition that has already collected thousands
of signatures. There will be a strong Love Not
Hate contingent at this year’s Dublin Pride
march.
Hate-crime laws are not a panacea, and on
their own will not eliminate the structural and
institutional racism (and other forms of bias) of
which hate crimes are a violent manifestation.
But in the UK, Sweden and Finland, where such
laws have been embedded for longest, the data
show that they can provide a criminal justice
system with a range of instruments that can
facilitate the targeting of behaviours, and the
promotion of a culture where in future Victoria
Curtis will be able to challenge bigotry, and
“Jane” will be able to live and work in a neigh-
bourhood and raise her children, without fear.
Shane O’Curry is the director of ENAR Ireland,
a network of 50 organisations campaigning for
political and cultural change on racism. ENAR
Ireland manages iReport.ie, Ireland’s
independent racist-incident-reporting
mechanism.
http://enarireland.org/hatecrime/
Love over hate
Ireland is delinquent on hate-
crime legislation and should now
enact the bill published last year
by Shane O’Curry
The European Network
Against Racism (ENAR)
records around 140
criminal acts motivated
by racism each year in
Ireland, while the State
logs fewer than 40

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