There has been a significant increase in hate crimes here.
The number of incidents jumped by almost a third last year according to new figures from the Gardaí.
582 hate-related incidents were reported to Gardaí in 2022 compared to 448 in 2021.
The largest number of hate-related incidents were recorded in Dublin.
Some of the incidents include a young black woman being forcibly shouldered out of the way by a man.
In another, a male teenager was subjected to homophobic comments and a minor assault by three teenagers.
In another case, currently before the courts, an Eastern European woman in her 50s was allegedly approached by a man in his 30s and was racially abused before being punched twice in the face and kicked on the ground.
Of the discriminatory motives recorded, a third involved race, 22% involved sexual orientation and 21% were based on nationality.
