Ireland

In 2022, a new Bill on Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences was proposed following a review of the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act (1989). The new Bill is currently before the legislative branch of the State. If enacted, the new legislation intends to criminalize any intentional or reckless communication or behaviour that is likely to incite violence or hatred against a person or persons because they are associated with a protected characteristic. The penalty for this offence will be up to five years' imprisonment.

The Bill will also create new, aggravated forms of certain existing criminal offences, where those offences are motivated by hatred of a protected characteristic. These will carry an enhanced penalty, and the criminal record will clearly state that the offence was a hate crime.

In 2022, the Garda designed a comprehensive Online Hate Crime Training Programme, which is now mandatory for all Garda members and Garda staff (civilians) with public-facing roles. The current completion rate of the training across the organization is 86 percent.

In addition, existing and new Garda Diversity Officers were trained in 2022 to actively engage with and attend to the concerns of minority and diverse communities, including by providing reassurance, building trust and extending the accessibility of the Garda Service. Contributions to each session were made by community representatives who detailed their communities' experience of victimization and discrimination.

In 2022, the National Diversity Forum (established in 2020), comprising of CSOs and community representatives from all diverse and/or minority backgrounds, completed the monitoring of the implementation of the Diversity and Integration Strategy for 2019-2021.

There were several notable hate crime cases in 2022. In Sligo, two gay men were murdered over a period of approximately 24 hours in the same area due to their sexual orientation. A resident in the town was arrested and charged with the two murders and is currently awaiting trial. In the aftermath of the killings, vigils were held in Sligo and around Ireland. Significant community support and reassurance efforts were made by the police to the LGBT+ Community in Ireland. In Dublin, a drag artist was attacked by a group of six men. The perpetrators were charged and judicial proceedings are ongoing. Also in Dublin, a man was convicted for 60 hours of community service after shouting racist abuse at a shopkeeper before becoming aggressive with responding Gardaí.