Garda authorities to limit Hass crimes definition according to new laws – the Irish time

The Garda authorities have declared that they will limit their definition of hate crimes after the adoption of legal provisions, which contains a much more restrictive definition than that of the Gardaí that are used.

The legislation of hate criminal, which was adopted at the end of last year, provides strict punishments when a dish realizes that hate was a motivating factor for crime and assault.

The legislation provides for a “demonstrations” test on hatred that obliges the perpetrator of a crime to demonstrate that they were motivated by hatred, for example by using racist or homophobic language during or before an attack.

However, this definition of a hate break is much narrower than the Garda used. In leaflets that were published in Garda stations and on the Garda website, a hate crime is described as one in which the victim believes that it is motivated by hate -a subjective test and not the lens that is now included in the legislation.

The definition of Garda states that a hate crime is “every crime that is perceived by the victim or another person in order to motivate fully or in part by hostility or prejudice, based on the actual or perceived age, a disability, color, nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender”.

When asked about the discrepancy between the legislative definition and the definition of Garda, Garda headquarters first explained that the new act “provides a greater insight into the hate motivation of this and other crimes listed in the action and that the reporting statistics for 2025 are examined, which will take place in Q1 2026.

[ Small increase in hate-related crimes reported to gardaí last yearOpens in new window ]

When the Garda was pushed to the discrepancy, it refers to “2024 and in previous years in which there was no legislation for hate crimes. The definition of hate crimes is now planned in legislation.”

The Garda later confirmed that his definition of a hate criminal was changed in order to take into account the new laws.

Although there was no hate crimes in the law like a hate crime last year, Garda has collected statistics on hate crimes and hate incidents – an incident that is motivated by hatred, but is no longer in the crime – was reported for several years.

Last week it was said that 676 hate crimes and hate care incidents were reported to Gardaí last year compared to 651 in the previous year.

However, the Garda authorities said that in Ireland, hate crimes are still subjected to and more people are encouraged to report.

The race remained the most widespread discriminatory motif, from 36 percent in the previous year in 2023 to 39 percent. Almost half of all hate -related incidents occurred in the Dublin region.