One hate crime reported every day

Hate crimes are being reported at a rate of almost one every day, official figures have revealed.

Some 151 aggravated incidents were recorded by gardaí in the first six months of this year — a near doubling of the numbers previously logged. But experts warned the scourge could be more widespread because victims are reluctant to report and a fifth of all crime is not added to the Garda’s Pulse computer database.

Figures released showed the number of racist incidents or those motivated because of someone’s ethnic background or religion soared to 98 in the first six months of this year.