Complaints of racism hit new high

A complaints watchdog received 245 notifications of alleged racism in the second half of last year — the highest six-month tally since it began receiving complaints almost four years ago.

The half-year tally of complaints of racism brought to 1,335 the number of reports received by www.iReport.ie since it began collecting the data in July 2013.

The iReport.ie service is operated by ENAR (European Network Against Racism Ireland), which warned there is “growing evidence of a consistent pattern of willful miscommunication and refusal to record incidents by An Garda Siochána”.

The most recent half-year report shows that among the complaints lodged were at least 155 criminal offences (excluding any repeated offences), 98 incidents of verbal abuse, 57 incidents involving illegal discrimination, and six cases involving offences of criminal damage caused by graffiti, as well as offences such as incitement to hatred.

Racist incidents also took place online, with the report stating there were 66 cases involving incitement to hatred offences in media and social media publications.

According to an analysis in the report written by Dr Lucy Michael of the University of Ulster: “A total of 245 completed reports were received in this six-month period, representing a much higher level of reporting than the previous six-month period, in which 190 reports were received, and again a significantly higher level than all previously recorded periods.

"This level of reporting shows a consistent rise since the launch of iReport.ie in July 2013.”

Assault appeared in 20 cases, including eight with physical injury and five with threats to kill or cause serious harm.

Incidents included: A South Asian man in his late 20s who was verbally and physically assaulted by an Irish male in Co Laois; a Muslim man was in a club in Dublin when another man aggressively blocked his way, verbally abused, and physically assaulted him, causing immediate nose bleeding; a black woman reported having a can of drink thrown at her by a group of men in a car and the perpetrators then verbally racially abused her; a black African man was verbally abused by an Irish male when leaving his house in Dublin.

In that case, the perpetrator followed him and assaulted the victim, who lost a tooth. While the victim was waiting for an ambulance, two men came and attacked him with a hockey stick.

Shane O’Curry, director of ENAR Ireland, said Ireland is “delinquent” in not having hate crime legislation and claimed “we in Ireland are not immune to the Brexit and Trump effects”.

Gardaí emphasised that they have been working closely with minority communities for more than 10 years through its dedicated Garda Racial Intercultural Diversity Office and its 270 diversity officers.

A spokesman said: “An Garda Síochána would urge anyone who has been a victim of a racist or hate crime to inform us so that it can be thoroughly investigated.

“We know that this is not an easy thing to do, but that is why we have specially trained gardaí who help make it easier for victims of such crimes to report by, for example, visiting their homes in plainclothes.”