A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána has said that the under-reporting of hate related crimes is “widely acknowledged” amongst the “lived experience of diverse and minority communities”.
The statement came in response to a question from Gript about the basis of Chief Superintendent for Community Engagement Padraic Jones’s comment that the phenomenon is still “under-reported” in Ireland.
“While these figures do indicate a further increase in the number of people that come forward to An Garda Síochána and report an incident of crime which was motivated by hate, we recognise that hate related crime is still underreported in Ireland,” Chief Superintendent Jones said.
Asked by Gript what document or research the Chief Superintendent’s statement was based on, a spokesperson for An Garda Síochána responded that the “under-reporting of hate related crimes is widely acknowledged across academia, NGO and representative groups and also amongst the lived experience of diverse and minority communities”.
Chief Superintendent Jones was speaking about the latest published figures for “Hate Crimes and Hate Related (non-crime) Incidents” reported during 2024, which according to gardaí saw incidents recorded across all nine of the discriminatory motives:
• A total 676 hate crimes and hate related (non-crime) incidents were recorded in 2024 – up from 651 in 2023
• 4% increase in the number of hate crimes and hate related (non-crime) incidents reported to An Garda Síochána compared to 2023
• 592 hate crimes (548 in 2023)
• 84 hate related (non-crime) incidents (103 in 2023)
“Anti-race” remained the most prevalent discriminatory motive (39% of all motives) according to gardaí, increasing 36 percent on 2023.
Meanwhile, “anti-sexual orientation” was said to have declined year on year (70 in 2024; 109 in 2023).
“Hate motives” were evident in a variety of reported crime incident types, according to gardaí, the largest percentage being recorded in public order (31%), minor assaults (22%) and criminal damage not by fire (16%) and assault causing harm (7%).