Rise in racial assaults blamed on referendum

There has been an increase in the number of racially-motivated incidents reported by ethnic minorities since the citizenship referendum last May, according to new figures compiled by an advisory body to the Government.

The National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) study shows cases of assault, abuse or discrimination are running well above average in recent months.

However, the Garda's racial and intercultural unit, which also records racially-motivated crime, says it has not recorded a similar increase.

The NCCRI has recorded, on average, some 47 incidents every six months since it began collecting figures three years ago. It has already recorded 50 such incidents in the last four months, many of which occurred during the referendum campaign.

The group's director, Mr Philip Watt, said the figures represented an increase in both the number and seriousness of incidents in recent months.

"At a time of heightened debate on issues like immigration or asylum-seekers, its seems that it's more likely that these things will happen. We saw something similar happen in the 2002 general election," Mr Watt said.

The incidents were reported to the organisation by victims, ethnic representative groups and organisations working with Travellers, refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants.

Some of the more recent incidents included a racist attack on a South African asylum-seeker in Limerick, an assault on a Pakistani woman in Dublin, and racially-abusive post sent to a Nigerian local election candidate.

However, Insp Mary Gormley, of the Garda's racial and intercultural unit, said while its figures were usually "broadly similar" to statistics compiled by the NCCRI, it had not recorded any noticeable increase since May.

She accepted that there may be under-reporting of incidents among ethnic groups, but said the Garda's ethnic liaison officers had developed a good relationship with minority groups.

"Overall figures are low, which is a tribute to the many groups working in this area. We would ask anyone in these communities to contact us if they have any concerns regarding racially-motivated incidents."

Racially-motivated incidents recorded by the Garda typically involve assault, public order offences and criminal damage.

The NCCRI records a wider category of incident, including non-criminal matters such as discrimination in the workplace or circulation of offensive material.

Gardaí typically record around 30 racially-motivated incidents every six months.

While figures for May and June of this year have not been published, Insp Gormley said they were not out of step with previous months.

Mr Watt said there was evidence to suggest there was a substantial under-reporting of incidents to gardaí, especially with cases of verbal abuse.

"It is still a relatively small minority of people who engage in serious incidents, while lower level incidents, like verbal abuse, are often not reported because it happens quite regularly," he said.

"In terms of what's happening in the rest of Europe, where anti-Semitism is a problem, we're not in that league. Notwithstanding that, what often appears to be a minor incident can have a devastating impact on the person."

He said the NCCRI's increase in recorded incidents underlined the need for the Government to publish its promised anti-racism strategy. It is due to be published later this year.