The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee online consultation hate crime has begun at last! There are three strands to the discussion, which are roughtly: the law as it stands; incidence of hate crime; and possible responses to it.
The focus on Northern Ireland will no doubt raise questions around the growing number of racist attacks, but also perhaps where religious conviction ends and incitement to violence ends.
In effect they are using the internet to take evidence from ordinary people – an activity which generally in Dublin as well as London is reserved for lobbists and special interest groups.
We’ll do our best to follow the debate and possibly pick up themes for debate here on Slugger (when we get our old site back). But in the meantime they have just started – so go over to the Hansard site and make your opinions heard!
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