Ireland is one of only six countries in the EU with mechanisms in place to properly collect data on racist attacks, according to the Vienna-based EU Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC).
A report published today by the EU watchdog rates the collection of data on racist attacks in Ireland along with five other countries as 'good or excellent.'
The report says gardaí have stepped up their efforts to effectively respond to racist violence and proactive cultural diversity programmes, which have been launched by the gardaí and civil society, have accompanied these initiatives.
Social tension, intolerance towards migrants and refugees, the Middle East conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and the September 11th, 2001 attacks in the United States have all been cited as reasons behind race crimes in Europe.
The EUMC said the main perpetrators behind racist crimes were young males and their victims were groups such as Jews, Muslims, North Africans, refugees, people from the former Yugoslavia and Roma.
"We do not know the 'true' extent of racist violence in the EU as official data collection mechanisms are either non-existent or require further development," the EUMC said in a memo on the report.
The report only covers the 15 "old" EU states and not the ten new, mainly eastern European states which joined in May, 2004.
The six EU countries which received top marks for collecting data were Ireland, Denmark, Finland, France, Britain and Sweden
The report said lack of data created a "serious danger of misjudging" the level of hate crimes, which in 2004 appeared to be on the rise in EU states such as Britain and France.
The report was produced to support EU states develop appropriate policy responses to racist violence.
Additional reporting: Reuters
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