The European Commission has initiated an “infringement procedure” against Ireland over its failure to correctly transpose an EU framework decision on combating racism and xenophobia into Irish law.
Transposition is the process of incorporating EU directives and framework decisions into the national laws of EU member states.
The commission sent a letter of formal notice to Ireland as well as “reasoned opinions” to Bulgaria and Estonia for only “partially and incorrectly” transposing the framework decision.
The Irish letter is the first step in the infringement procedure. Ireland now has two months to respond and address the shortcomings raised by the commission.
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The Department of Justice said it noted the letter and that its contents are being considered.
In the absence of a satisfactory response, the commission may decide to send a reasoned opinion to Ireland as well as to refer Bulgaria and Estonia to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
If the court agrees with the commission on the infringement, and Ireland does not comply with the judgment, the court may impose a penalty payment or lump sum at the request of the commission.
The aim of the framework decision is to ensure that serious manifestations of racism and xenophobia, such as public incitement to violence or hatred, are “punishable by effective, proportionate, and dissuasive criminal penalties” throughout the European Union.
The commission said it considered that Ireland had not fully transposed the provisions related to incitement to hatred or violence, “including the condoning, denial or gross trivialisation of international crimes and the Holocaust”.
While the Government has recently decided to drop plans to introduce hate speech laws, the proceedings from the European Commission are believed to be unrelated.
It is understood Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has received approval from Coalition leaders that the parts of controversial criminal justice legislation that deal with incitement to violence and hatred – commonly known as the hate speech elements – will be removed.
The Government will proceed only with other elements that deal with hate crime, which provide for tougher sentences where hate is proven as a motivation for an offence.
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