The government has been urged to introduce a new law prohibiting incitement to hatred following a court decision quashing the first conviction in the State under existing legislation.
A former Dublin Bus driver convicted last September under the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 was cleared of the charge on appeal this week at Dublin Circuit Court.
Mr Gerry O'Grady was convicted under Section 2 of the Act, which makes it an offence to use words which are threatening, abusive or insulting and are intended or likely to stir up hatred.
Mr O'Grady had tried to stop a Gambian national, Mr Matthew John, from getting on his bus while carrying food, on the grounds that eating was not allowed.
Witnesses who gave evidence at last September's hearing at Dublin Metropolitan District Court said Mr O'Grady referred to "nig-nogs" and told Mr John to go back to his own country.
Mr O'Grady was also convicted of assault for threatening a woman passenger with a cash dispenser when she tried to remonstrate with him. He was fined £450 for each offence, and placed under a probation order for a year. He resigned from Dublin Bus following the conviction.
Mr O'Grady appealed, and Judge John Buckley ruled in the Circuit Court this week that however appalling his words were, they were not intended or likely to stir up hatred under the strict interpretation of the law.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, has initiated a review of the legislation. Calls for the urgent introduction of a new law were made yesterday by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, a Government advisory body.
Mr O'Grady's solicitor, Mr Cormac O Ceallaigh, said his client was delighted with this week's court decision.