‘Measurable rise in hate’ prompts calls from Irish human rights group for national plan

Calls for a national action plan to combat hate are “fully supported” by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), its chief commissioner Liam Herrick said on Thursday.

Herrick was speaking at a press conference hosted by LGBT Ireland and Outhouse as part of the ILGA-Europe Conference, which is the largest annual gathering of LGBTI activists, organisations and allies in Europe and Central Asia.

A national action plan to combat hate was proposed to address the root causes of hate, through prevention, education, community investment and measures that strengthen social cohesion.

The IHREC said the “measurable rise in hate” in communities across Ireland was “one of the greatest human rights and equality challenges facing our society”.

Representatives of communities affected by hate across Ireland called on the Government to develop and implement a “comprehensive, fully resourced” national plan to combat the matter.

“We understand hate as something that’s manifested in different degrees of severity, ranging from microaggressions up to hate speech and hate crime, with devastating consequences for individuals and communities,” Herrick said.

“The impacts of hate are not new, but the rise of technology has changed the nature of how hate can be spread.

“The growing problem of hate in Ireland, including homophobic and transphobic hate, requires a co-ordinated, whole-of-society response.”

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Herrick said the answer “cannot be limited to criminal justice measures”. Instead, a “sustained response that tackles the conditions in which hate can flourish and supports the communities experiencing it” is needed.

Kieran O’Donovan, chief executive of Belong To said he sees “the real human impact of this rising hate” most clearly in young people, every day.

He said 72 per cent of members of the LGBTI+ community have experienced online and verbal abuse with one in four having experienced physical abuse.

“When a young person sees this hostility in the world, of course it does real, long-lasting damage ... to their mental health.”

He said members of the LGBTI+ are three times more likely to self-harm and are five times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. He too called for the national action plan to combat hate.

Speaking on the national panel on hate and extremism in Ireland, Tim Hanley, advocacy and research manager at LGBT Ireland, spoke of the impact that rising hate is having on LGBTI+ people.

He said some people were afraid to hold hands in public, afraid to show affection to their partners in public, change the way they dress, and don’t go to certain places.

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He said when the marriage equality referendum passed in Ireland in 2015, LGBTI+ people “won the right to walk down the aisle”.

However, now in 2026, too many LGBTI+ people “have to look over our shoulders when we walk down the street”, he said.

Kate O’Connell, equality and intercultural programme officer with the National Youth Council of Ireland, said some youth workers say changes happen “really quickly” regarding the normalisation of hate and hostility.

Though “on the flip side” she said there have never been more Pride parades in rural areas and more Pride flags on display.