Incidences of hate crime have increased by an astonishing 84% in just 12 months, the gardaí have said. At the launch of a new online hate crime reporting tool, the gardaí provided a “snapshot” of the increase in hate crimes, and lesser hate ‘incidents’, in the six months between January and June 2021. In that time some 238 hate crimes and hate incidents were reported, compared with just 129 over the same period 12 months previous in 2020. The reporting portal is not to be used for emergencies, however, gardaí said. “I came to the realisation that a victim of hate crime should not be embarrassed in reporting hate crime, which entails a poisonous and ignorant behaviour,” he said.

Source: Irish Examiner July 21, 2021 12:45 UTC