I raise the issue of a human rights based approach to policing in Ireland, on which a report was published and launched yesterday in Buswells Hotel. I understand all Oireachtas Members were sent an invitation to the launch, which was organised by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL. I thank the chief executive of the council, Mr. Liam Herrick, and his staff for an excellent piece of work on a human rights based approach to policing. The piece on policing in Northern Ireland historically, in respect of which the team engaged with people from that jurisdiction, is interesting. Of particular importance are the actions recommended in the report, which are challenging and make for interesting reading.

I also want to focus on a matter raised yesterday, namely, hate crime. Hate crime is real. It is oppressive and it has enormous damaging affects on those who fall victim to it. Hate crime can cause people to withdraw from society and avoid expressing their own identity. When unchallenged, hate crime can have consequences well beyond the immediate victim. It can also cause people to alter their daily lives. Yesterday, we heard various stories about people who were hurt, damaged and undermined as human beings by hate crime. I want to share a story with the House. The other day I spoke to a man from Pakistan who told me he was walking in the suburbs of Dublin two or three weeks ago when he was approached by what he described as three young boys, possibly of 11, 12 or 13 years of age, who shouted abuse at him, calling him curry head and so on. He decided to ignore them because they were young lads. However, when they got close to him they dragged him to the ground and kicked him to a pulp. When I asked him what he did about it, he said he did nothing because, first, he did not want to retaliate as he realised they were minors and, second, because it might affect his status in this country. He was afraid. He was compromised and he did not feel he would be given a sympathetic ear by An Garda Síochána. That is not to suggest that that is true. Confidence in our policing is terribly important. The Traveller and Roma communities and diverse other groups must have confidence in the policing of our State. This is a challenge that we need to address.

Earlier, I spoke to the Leader who, like me, is a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE. This is an issue for all jurisdictions represented on the OSCE, where we hear different stories about different jurisdictions, which the Leader might touch on later. In terms of a response to this challenge, this House or an appropriate committee should examine the ICCL report. We need to discuss the issue of hate crime. We should call it what it is, namely, a crime against people in terms of their identity, who they are and where they are placed in society. In an Ireland which we profess to be a true republic, and rightly so, we must value and defend the values of a republic and allow our citizens to live in peace and feel protected by the State and its police service. This is an issue that needs to be revisited by a committee.

We need to focus on it constantly and seek to address it. We also need to call it what it is - it is hate and the crimes involved are hate crimes. As legislators, we must take steps to stop it happening.

Following on from what Senator Boyhan stated, I am also of the view that the issue of hate crime is extremely important. Several years ago, I worked with the Trinity College Dublin anti-bullying centre and others on the issue of hate crime. We were involved in a joint project with the Sophie Lancaster Foundation in England. The latter was set up because a young girl called Sophie Lancaster was kicked to death for being a Goth. Her mother set up the foundation and pursued politicians in Britain to introduce legislation to cover hate crime. We have a lot to learn from what happened there. When the project to which I refer was ongoing, we engaged in exchanges but then all of the funding was cut from community development projects. We also did work in respect of suicide prevention with the PIPS Charity in the North. As a result of that exchange, we learned about the anti-bullying kit that can be used within schools to address the issue of hate crime and make young children aware of difference and of celebrating it and not excluding people based on how they dress, how they are or in the context of whatever they decide to do.

I would be interested in working with Senator Boyhan on this matter because some advances have already been made. I commend Dr. Stephen Minton from the Trinity College Dublin anti-bullying centre who worked with us to have a whole-community response to bullying. If we are to tackle bullying and hate crime, we need such a response. There are limitations to just having one element to the response, whether it be via the Garda, schools or whatever. It has to be everywhere within the community and there has to be zero tolerance to bullying and hate crime.

I had intended to talk about something very different. I had originally intended to ask the Leader if the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy English, could come before the House to clarify the situation with the pyrite redress scheme? There is much ambiguity and confusion regarding how households can access the scheme so perhaps the Minister of State might come here and clarify the matter.