Man cleared of online hatred against Travellers

A LANDMARK case against a man who admitted creating a Facebook page called “Promote the use of knacker babies as shark bait” has been dismissed by a judge who said there was reasonable doubt about an intent to incite hatred towards members of the Travelling community.

Judge James O’Connor noted that while the comments made on Facebook were “obnoxious and revolting” it appeared that the remarks were a once-off and the man responsible had issued an apology.

In the first Irish case of its kind, Patrick Kissane, of Knockasartnett, Killarney, Co Kerry, appeared before the Killarney District Court yesterday charged with an offence under the Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 after he created the page on the social media site.