Survey says gardai among those guilty of racism

The first large-scale survey of black and ethnic minority views on racism in Ireland shows 80 per cent have experienced racism here, mostly in the street and public places, but also from gardai.

The survey was carried out for Amnesty International's Irish Section whose director, Mr Sean Love, yesterday warned: "The truth is that racism clearly already has a foothold in Ireland and continuing complacency simply invites trouble."

Racism was not just about riots, murder and abuse, it was also about attitudes and was institutionalised within the State, he said.

Of those surveyed, 80 per cent said the Government is not doing enough to combat racism. Mr Love said the survey showed "a very worrying attitude" towards the Garda. Just 14 per cent believed gardai took racist incidents seriously, 155 people said they had experienced racism from gardai, most more than once, and 54 per cent did not feel confident reporting a racist incident to the Garda.

Responding, a Garda spokeswoman said any report which had an impact on the work of the Garda would be carefully studied. The survey of 622 people was conducted by FAQs Research for presentation by Amnesty to the UN World Conference on Racism.

Mr Love said measures urgently required include the establishment of an independent investigative and monitoring body for racist incidents, promotion of intercultural education, a systematic long-term anti-racism public awareness campaign and legislation to allow for prosecution of racist acts. He noted Ireland still has no legal definition of what constitutes a racially motivated crime.

The survey was based on questionnaires delivered to black Irish and Africans, Asians, other Europeans and Irish Travellers. Most (66 per cent) lived in Dublin.

Seventy-nine per cent said they had experienced racism or discrimination. More than 80 per cent disagreed with the statement: "Racism is not a serious problem in Ireland today."

More than 44 per cent of racist experiences occurred on the street, 24 per cent in shops and 23 per cent in pubs. Of those who experienced racism, 25 per cent (155 people) said this was from gardai, 20 per cent from employers and 19.5 per cent from neighbours. Racism was also experienced in banks, schools, churches, buses and taxis, and from councils, housing and tax authorities.

Racism has taken hold Sean Love: Opinion page 14 Editorial comment: page 15