Legal

Controversial new bill should be redrawn in Seanad to define hatred, warns expert

Co-director of the European Centre for the Study of Hate also argues for caution on the extension of Garda powers of arrest in the new legislation

Dr Amanda Haynes, Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Limerick: ‘I would argue for caution there around the kinds of extensions of Garda powers that that involves’. Picture: Don Moloney

A co-director of the European Centre for the Study of Hate has said the government's controversial new hate crime bill must be redrawn.

Amanda Haynes, associate professor at University of Limerick and co-director of the European Centre for the Study of Hate, said she would “argue for caution” on certain elements of the bill which would give the gardaí new powers to arrest people for possessing certain material.

The bill was passed in the Dáil ...