A parliamentary select Committee report has noted evidence that "crime motivated by race, religion, and sexual orientation is a substantial and growing problem in Northern Ireland".

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee report supported policies to address the "worrying trend as a matter of urgency," and said current police figures may underestimate the problem of racial and homophobic attacks in Northern Ireland by "a considerable margin".

The Committee with a remit to examine the draft Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2004, chaired by Michael Mates, backed a tougher sentence based approach as a signal that this would indicate a "no tolerance" approach to 'hate crime' offences.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland gave an undertaking to improve the recording of sectarian incidents and the Northern Ireland Office has pledged that the effectiveness of the Order would be reviewed in due course.

The MP's report stated: "We are convinced that strong laws and effective police enforcement measures against 'hate crime' are required to send the strongest possible signal that such activity is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We expect to see the problem tackled more vigorously in the future by the Police Service of Northern Ireland than appears to have been the case in the past."

However, the Committee expressed concern that the Government had "failed to establish any grounds for adopting a different approach in Northern Ireland to attacks against disabled people than applies in England and Wales".

The MPs called for hostility against disabled people to be specifically recognised within the draft Order as disabled people in Northern Ireland deserved the same legal protection afforded in England and Wales.

The report urged the Government and PSNI to begin collecting statistics for incidents of 'hate crime' against disabled people in Northern Ireland "without delay" so that the scale of the problem could be ascertained.

The committee urged the Government to ensure that the proposed draft Order was amended to afford appropriate protection from 'hate crime' to people with disabilities.

(SP)