Irish Examiner view: A lesson from the Highlands on hate crime laws

The experience of Scotland in the week since it introduced its new laws is insightful

Within a week, Police Scotland received 4,000 complaints, fulfilling predictions that there would be a wave of vexatious litigants, and people prepared to provoke disputes under the new rules. In that category, we can place the best-selling author and Edinburgh resident JK Rowling.

Anyone curious about the application of any putative hate crime legislation in Ireland will be studying the experience of Scotland in the week since it introduced its new laws.

We have populations of similar size. Both countries operate distinctive legal jurisdictions. Both have their own independent police forces. Scotland likes to think of itself as the home of the Enlightenment. We like to consider ourselves enlightened and progressive.