Call for specific hate crime law amid attacks
Cork-based Nasc said the lack of such laws meant some people felt it was “okay” to abuse ethnic minorities.
Nasc campaign officer Jennifer DeWan was responding to yesterday’s report in the Irish Examiner of racist attacks at the Dublin home of a single mother-of-two, where graffiti ‘Blacks Out’ was daubed across the front window.
Graffiti saying ‘Blacks Out’ also appeared under advertising hoarding in the Shandon area of Cork City last April.
“In some ways we’re fortunate in Cork in there is not as much outright abuse, physical abuse and graffiti that there seems to be in Dublin, although there were incidents a couple of months ago, including racist graffiti in Shandon,” Ms DeWan said. “That was quite worrying.”
Ms DeWan said they were witnessing a steady flow of reports: “Clearly, we are not getting as many reports as are happening out there and the gardaí, with whom we work closely with, are definitely not getting half the reports we are getting.”
She said one of the reasons was the lack of hate crime legislation. She said that the current incitement to hatred legislation was “definitely not a functioning piece of legislation”.
Less than one reported case was taken by gardaí per year under the legislation.
“Now there is nothing in place that says hate crime is not acceptable and people feel it’s okay to do it,” she said.
She said she was glad that Minister of State for Justice and New Communities Aodhán Ó Ríordáin had said he would examine draft hate crime legislation, published by the Irish Council of Civil Liberties last week.
Meanwhile, gardaí are continuing to investigate the attacks at the home of ‘Jane’ (pseudonym) , in Clondalkin, in west Dublin.
Officers are said to be examining all aspects of the case and are thought to be following a number of lines of inquiry.
It is understood the local district officer, Superintendent Brendan Connolly is due to meet Jane while an ethnic liaison officer is already dealing with her.
Jane’s car tyres were slashed twice in the fortnight, leading up to the graffiti attack, which happened in the early hours of Wednesday. Neighbours said they saw two men, who were masked.
After the graffiti attack, she brought her children, a boy aged 12 and a girl aged eight, to a friend’s in Donegal. She returned to Dublin on Friday, where she has a job. When she went back to her home, her car tyres were slashed a third time. She is now staying in a friend’s attic.
Local People Before Profit councillor Gino Kenny along with locals, including a group of kids, helped clean off the graffiti on Tuesday.
“This is not just spray paint, it’s not just anti-social behaviour, this is a serious racist attack and it’s an attack on everyone.”
Jane sought help from South Dublin County Council. She said she was told as she was not living in a council house, nor was she homeless, that there was little they could do. A spokesman for the council said they were investigating her case.
- www.nascireland.org
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