Racist incidents are being vastly under reported in Ireland according to a new report.
The report by The Integration Centre blames a combination of poor Garda procedure, lack of legislation and a reluctance to report by victims, who feel nothing will be done.
Statistics show that there are 5 racist incidents per week here, which equates to some 260 a year. Inimical data by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) recorded from Garda statistics claim there were 98 racist incidents last year in total.
Key findings of the report:
- The PULSE System cannot capture racist incidents, and is inept at capturing racist crime
- Irish official recorded racist statistics are 27 times less than in England and Wales, adjusted for population
- Skepticism and lack of knowledge from serving Garda on the current procedures supposedly in place
- Communication on racism reporting from Garda Headquarters to the station level are ineffective
- There is a large legislative gap preventing An Garda Síochána from capturing racist incidents
- Garda stations cold called did not know who and in some cases what an Garda Ethnic Liaison Officer was
The document "Reporting Racism in Ireland" calls for new laws which make racist motivation an aggravating factor in sentencing. In the survey of 150 people, 87% of those surveyed experienced racism but only 13% of these reported the incident to the Gardaí.
The centre says the report was inspired by the odd discovery that statistically, when adjusted for population, Ireland was 27 times less racist than England and Wales.
Report author Helena Clarke told Breakfast here on Newstalk that the Minister for Justice must take action.
