Irish law ‘not equipped to deal with race crimes’

IRELAND’S criminal law is not equipped to deal with racially motivated crime, it has been suggested.

Experts in the field held discussions in Dublin yesterday on research conducted by Professor Dermot Walsh and Jennifer Schweppe, of the Centre for Criminal Justice, University of Limerick. The authors want reforms to bring Irish criminal law on racism up to international standards.

Lucy Gaffney, of the National Action Plan Against Racism said: “Racially motivated criminal acts instil fear not just in the victim but also in the ethnic community to which the victim is perceived to belong.”

Meanwhile, members of Residents against Racism joined TDs outside the Dáil yesterday in a bid to highlight long delays faced by asylum seekers in Ireland.

Spokeswoman Rosanna Flynn said: “When torture victims are medically assessed, their cases should be speeded up because of what they’ve been through.”

Among the protesters was Adnan Hassan Mohamedi, the Iranian who stitched his mouth up in a hunger strike at a Dublin hostel. He said he has been waiting nine months to hear news about his asylum application

The 35-year-old is in Ireland for 16 months and claims, as a former member of Iran’s socialist party, he was tortured and beaten.

“If I did not have a problem, why leave my country?” said Mr Mohamedi. “I wait for an answer.”

TDs from the Labour, Green and Socialist parties as well Sinn Féin joined calls for torture victims cases to be expedited.