Funding and staffing 'key' for online watchdog, says human rights body

• Criticised the “failure” of the Government’s Hate Crime Bill to adequately address the different manifestations of hate crime and said this could contribute to “further marginalisation” of affected groups;
• Expressed concern that despite the establishment of the Judicial Studies Committee in 2020, there has been “minimal progress” in providing judges with skills and training on hate crime;
• Highlighted the “apparent confusion or reluctance” among many public bodies in Ireland – including the Gardaí - in collecting and analysing data on race, ethnicity and religion 

The concerns are detailed in the IHREC’s report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Ireland’s implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The IHREC said it had welcomed proposed laws on combatting hate speech both online and offline, including the General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Hate Crime) Bill in 2021 and the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill in 2022. The latter bill proposes the establishment of a Media Commission to oversee online safety.

However, the IHREC said that while there was a commitment to establish an Online Safety Commissioner as part of the new Media Commission, this is not specifically included in the bill.

It said that “adequate budgetary and staff resources must be allocated to the Media Commission to ensure it has the requisite capacity to perform its statutory duties and functions”.

It said proper resourcing was “particularly relevant” given recent European Court of Justice (ECJ) opinions on the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) and the fact that Ireland is the European host to many multinational social media and technology companies. It said the ECJ has criticised the DPC for “continued failures” in enforcing GDPR in Ireland.

In relation to the Hate Crime Bill, it said that while the Department of Justice had planned public consultation to inform the development of hate crime legislation, this did not happen. It said such consultation was “critical” in ensuring that the legislation adequately addressed the most prevalent offences aggravated by prejudice.

Under the bill, it said that where an existing offence is aggravated by prejudice, this will be considered by the court in determining the appropriate sentence.

It was concerned that unless there is a “specific aggravated form of an existing offence”, there may be a reluctance by gardaí and prosecutors to gather evidence of prejudicial motivation and instead focus on prosecuting the basic offence.

The IHREC said adequate training on hate crimes for the judiciary, prosecutors and gardaí was “essential”.