Society must address its response to crimes involving minorities, says special rapporteur
Dr Ebun Joseph, a race relations consultant and director of the Institute of Antiracism and Black Studies, said: 'Time and again, we witness how individuals from racialised backgrounds are collectively blamed, while the same is not applied when members of the white majority are involved.' Photo: Moya Nolan
The societal response to incidents of crime involving members of minority communities must be addressed, according to Ireland’s special rapporteur for Ireland’s plan to tackle racism.
Dr Ebun Joseph, a race relations consultant and director of the Institute of Antiracism and Black Studies, was appointed in July as the special rapporteur for the National Plan Against Racism.
She was among a group of leaders of Ireland’s black community, which also included councillors Yemi Adenuga and Uruemu Adejinmi, who met on Monday “to evaluate the situation and how to respond” following the death of asylum seeker Quham Babatunde, who was fatally stabbed in Dublin city centre.
She said: “Time and again, we witness how individuals from racialised backgrounds are collectively blamed, while the same is not applied when members of the white majority are involved. This kind of response is deeply harmful. It fosters fear, fuels division, and endangers innocent people from already vulnerable communities.
"The black community in Ireland has long been contributing positively to society — working, studying, and organising events successfully and safely.
"The comments online have been really vitriolic.”
Meanwhile, new Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan must “stop being a commentator” and take action to deal with knife crime in Dublin, according to Tipperary North Labour TD Alan Kelly.
Mr Kelly claimed the public’s concerns about safety on streets in cities and towns are at a level “which probably hasn’t been seen before”.
He said that Mr O’Callaghan needs to “publicly say what he is going to do that’s different to his predecessors and he’s going to have to call out the fact that his predecessors failed".
“They failed miserably when it comes to An Garda Síochána, supporting An Garda Síochána, recruitment and retention of An Garda Síochána. Why weren’t there gardaí on the street in Grafton Street, why aren’t there gardaí on the street across the city centre of Dublin all the time?” Mr Kelly said.
Speaking on Sunday, Mr O’Callaghan said that there does need to be greater garda presence on the streets during the day and night, but that this would require a campaign to recruit more.
However, Mr Kelly claimed morale within the gardaí is “at its lowest in the history of the State”, with ordinary gardaí having a “lack of confidence” in the Department of Justice, the Garda Commissioner, and senior gardaí.
Mr Kelly added that it was an issue of culture within the Department of Justice, highlighting issues that he has had in accessing information through parliamentary questions.
