A RACIST video of “vile” hate speech posted on social media by a Limerick man commenting on foreign nationals in the city will be investigated by Limerick Gardaí.
The video, shared in an unauthorised Garda facebook forum, has drawn condemnation from online social media users as “vile” hate speech with many using the hashtag #SayNoToRacism.
Posted on Tuesday night by a user who said he was not the author, the video gives a behind the camera view of a man walking on Parnell Street commenting on the origin and perceived religious backgrounds of a number of foreign nationals.
The two-minute video is littered with ethnic slurs and derogatory terms against those of different ethnicities and welcomes viewers to “n*****ville” as the man walks on “Parnell Street, the worst suicidal street in Ireland that is full of ISIS and scum of the earth,” he claims.
At one point the man says that “there are no bombs going off or terrorists, but they could be waiting and plotting to kill us all.”
On a number occasions, the man gets close to a number of people and uses hate speech and racist terms.
With thousands of views and more than 300 comments, one user commented that “Racism is alive and well in Limerick. Having an attitude like that it’s an absolute disgrace.”
Others posted that they have “identified the culprits” behind the video and their details have been passed on to Gardai.
Superintendent Derek Smart told the Limerick Post that the video and its author would be investigated and that any incidents linked to racism or hate crimes should be reported to Gardaí.
A report from the Irish Council of Civil Liberties (ICCL), found that Ireland is “seriously deficient” in legislating for hate crime.
University of Limerick sociologist, Dr Amanda Haynes said that “hate crime simply is not part of the language of the Irish criminal justice process.”
With 308 incidents of hate crimes reported in 2016, the ICCL report “supports the view that this figure under-represents the real figure of hate crime in Ireland and that both under-reporting and under-recording remain a challenge”,
A 2017 publication published by Dr Haynes, fellow sociologist Dr James Carr and senior law lecturer Dr Jennifer Schweppe, stated that “victims of hate crimes suffer more severely than victims of equivalent crimes which are not associated with targeted hostility.”
