Minister rules out ‘ethnic profiling’ of people questioned by gardaí

I HAVE been asked by the Minister for Integration, John Curran, to respond to your news brief headlined ‘Ethnic profiling in Ireland’ (January 13).

In it, the Nasc Irish Immigrant Support Centre claimed the EU Minorities and Discrimination Report demonstrated that An Garda Síochána is employing what is known as “ethnic profiling” in deciding who should be stopped and questioned and suggests that the gardaí should introduce a system of recording the ethnic origin of every person stopped and questioned so that subsequent analysis could prove or disprove the use by gardaí of ethnic profiling in their daily work.

The report does state that a high proportion, of Sub-Saharan African respondents – 59% – were stopped by the gardaí in the 12-month period preceding the interview.

The report goes on to state that the majority of those who were stopped – 93% – were in traffic at the time (either driving a car or motorbike). The report states that of those stopped in Ireland, 8% said they perceived it was because of their ethnic origin.

Figures in the report for similar perceptions in other EU states are: Malta and France, 53%; Finland, 42%; Portugal, 40%; Denmark, 37%; The Netherlands, 23%, and Sweden, 28%.

The Minister for Integration does not believe the information in this report supports the proposition that scarce Garda resources should be diverted to recording information of the type suggested by Nasc.

Ciara Kellegher

Press Officer

Office of the Minister for Integration

Dún Aimhirgin

Mespil Road

Dublin 4