Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 - Read OP

I have not had the opportunity to acquaint the Minister directly with all of this information but I would like to read for the information of the House and the Minister, a piece of literature recently received by me. It is headed "National Socialist Party: Smash AIDS Blitzkrieg":

In Ireland, AIDS is being spread amongst all normal people by the Gay AIDS spreaders and the Junkies. The Government is afraid to tell you the truth. Thousands in Ireland are infected — hundreds of AIDS deaths have been covered up and the number dying will double every six months.

Thanks to Queers, Junkies and Negroes visiting here, all of you are now at risk from the AIDS Black Death, right down to the pregnant women ... and a baby can be born with AIDS!!! Horrific. AIDS is as deadly as nuclear radiation. Help us in the National Socialist Party to break the conspiracy of silence among the knee-jerk liberals in Government. Join us. Act Now. Only we will tell you the truth. Only we will save you and your family from this Scourge of God.

Our "Smash AIDS Blitzkrieg" proposes: 1. Enforce the Law — ten years for homosexuals; 2. Enforce stringent AIDS-testing on all immigrants; 3. Intern all junkies, pushers etc., as Enemies of the People; 4. Daily testing of the Blood Bank for the AIDS virus; 5. Suspect Discos, Gay Bars, clubs, etc., to be burned down; 6. Execution of deliberate AIDS spreaders.

We were (and are) the first to commence a smash AIDS blitz. We will shortly issue a Guide on AIDS — the Real truth, not politicians' lies! We will tell you how to protect yourself, family, friends. For this, the National Socialist Party requires volunteers, funds, help!

Contact immediately — most urgent — SAE to:

Michael J. McGrath, Chief Lieutenant, National Socialist Party, 18 Dominic Street, Kilkenny City.

That is just one example. Similar material over the years has been sent to my employers. I speak, as I indicated to the House, with some feeling because some five or six years ago the principles outlined in this inflammatory document were, in fact, acted upon. The morning before I gave evidence to the Commission on Penal Reform, chaired by the late Sean MacBride, I was in the Hirschfeld centre when I noticed sparks through a plexiglas dome on the roof. I went onto the roof with fire fighting equipment of an electrical kind because I thought that some of the sophisticated monitoring equipment we put on the roof to protect it against fire and burglary had short circuited. When I got onto the roof I found that the whole flat roof, which was made of tarmacadam and asphalt, had been covered with a thin film of petrol, and there was a full sized drum of petrol and two churns full of explosives on the roof. The people initiating this incendiary attack had got down to the ground again and thrown up firelighters. The entire roof was beginning to blaze. The intention, quite clearly, was to ignite the roof, cause the two kegs to explode, blow the roof off and send the contents of the oil barrel down the building. Within 20 minutes from the moment at which I spotted this incident there would have been 200 people attending a discotheque. Two hundred people could have been literally incinerated to death.

This material constitutes a clear and explicit incitement. It could not possibly be clearer. Item No. 5 on their agenda is "suspect discos, gay bars, clubs etc. to be burned down". I am sure this is not the Minister's wish or intention in any way. I would not wish it to be thought for a second that I did feel that the Minister would want to be associated with or allow this kind of sentiment abroad. But it is perfectly clear that the absence of a specific clear provision on sexual orientation will render this legislation absolutely impotent in dealing with this material. I am somewhat surprised, in view of the fact that it comes as a consequence of certain international obligations, that this amendment was not immediately accepted. I can give certain instances of countries in which this legislation or something very like it has been accepted.