Immigrant Council claims reports of racism soar by 800%

There has been a dramatic rise in the number of reports of racism in the first two months of this year, compared with the same period last year.

Ireland has seen an 800% spike in the level of racist attacks either verbal or physical since January.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland have released the statistics and more than half of the reports were deemed by the Gardaí to be worthy of investigation.

Denise Charlton, Chief Executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, says the figures are shocking.