2 October 2015

Speaking at the European Commission's First Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights in Brussels, Minister of State Aodhán Ó Ríordáin raised the question of how we can ensure that children who are educated in faith-based schools can grow up with an understanding of other religions and cultures. As our societies grow more diverse, it becomes increasingly important that children from different religious and cultural backgrounds are educated in an inclusive setting.

Addressing the Colloquium the Minister said, “Mutual understanding and mutual respect and acceptance - that goes beyond merely tolerance - are critically important in ensuring that we have peaceful and stable societies into the future.”

A particular theme of the contributions was the need to ensure that hate crime legislation is strong enough and that it is adequately implemented. Minister Ó Ríordáin acknowledged that we do have strong EU legislation on hate crime, however stressed the need to focus more on implementation, on encouraging of reporting and on gathering of data.

The Minister said, “It is essential that the police in each European country reach out to vulnerable groups so as to make sure that people know how to report crime and know that their incident will be taken seriously by the authorities. Tackling islamopobia and anti-Semitism also requires strong anti-discrimination legislation. There is EU anti-discrimination legislation in the employment field, however not in relation to provision of goods and services.

The Minister concluded by calling on European leaders at the highest political level to unblock the draft anti-discrimination Directive – the so-called horizontal Directive – which was published in 2008.

The Minister said, “This is essential to ensure that victims of discrimination on religious and other grounds have adequate protection and access to redress.”

ENDS

Note to Editors

The Colloquium has been organised by Commission Vice President Timmermans to consider how the steady rise in anti-Semitic incidents and anti-Muslim hatred that we have seen in recent times can be tackled at European level. The meeting brings together Government Ministers, representatives of local authorities and international institutions, religious leaders and NGOs to discuss on an equal footing how to develop a culture of inclusive tolerance and respect in the European Union.