Sinn Féin MLA Linda Dillon has said developing new hate crime legislation should be a priority for the Justice Minister.

Speaking after today’s publication of the final report of the Hate Crime Review, the party’s justice spokesperson said:

“I welcome the final report of Judge Desmond Marrinan’s Hate Crime Review which demonstrates how ineffective our current legislation is and how victims have been let down for too long.

“At present there are no specific hate crime offences in law in the north and this review recommends the creation of aggravated hate crime offences which was a key Sinn Féin recommendation when we met with Judge Marrinan about this review and in our submission to the review.

“We also recommended expanding the protected characteristics of hate crime legislation to include gender, gender identity and age and I am pleased that these recommendations have been included in the review.

“Hate crime in any form is totally unacceptable and despite hate crime is rising in the north, it has a shockingly low conviction rate and an even lower reporting rate.

“I am calling on the Justice Minister to make it a priority to introduce new hate crime legislation in the form of a single consolidated Hate Crime Bill to properly address the problem of hate crime.

“We look forward to working with Ministers, justice agencies and the wider community to ensure that we as a society can properly tackle the issue of hate crime in its totality.”