A young black woman was assaulted unprovoked by a man in a shop, three teenage boys racially abused a security guard, and a teenage boy was the victim of a homophobic assault by three other male teens.
These are just three of the 582 hate crimes and hate-related incidents recorded in 2022, according to new Garda statistics revealed today. Gardai say they've been noticing a steady increase of hate crimes compared to 2021 when there were 389.
A total of 617 discriminatory motives were recorded this year. And nearly half of these incidents (47 per cent) were in the Dublin Metropolitan area. Among the incidents was a man in his 30s receiving a three month conviction following homophobic abuse and public order offences which gardai witnessed.
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A man in his 20s was verbally abused with homophobic comments whilst out socialising with friends by a man around his age who was later provided with Adult Caution. Another man, in his 60s, was convicted in District Court €2000 fine after he verbally abused, threatened and intimidated a non Irish white man also in his 60s.
Gardai also gave an example of a black Irish man in his 30s who was verbally abused by a male customer in his 20s - the man was convicted in District Court and issued a €400 fine. The most prevalent discriminatory motive was race (32 per cent), followed by Sexual Orientation (22 per cent) and Nationality (21 per cent).
Hate motives were evident in a range of incidents in 2022, the largest percentage being Public Order (nearly a third of them), Minor Assaults (a fifth of them), Assault causing Harm (one in every ten) and Criminal Damage (8 per cent). Assistant Commissioner Paula Hilman welcomed the publication of the 2022 statistics.
She said: "An Garda Siochana continues to have a strong focus on investigating crimes with a hate motive and supporting the victims of these crimes. An Garda Siochana recognises that hate crimes have a huge impact on victims, specifically because they are targeted because of a characteristic of who they are. These crimes also have a significant impact on wider communities and society.
”These statistics of incidents reported to An Garda Siochana in 2022 with a hate motive build on the baseline figures published for 2021. The level of reporting has increased overall. While it is disappointing that any incidents occur which have a hate related motive, it is positive to see more victims coming forward to An Garda Siochana and reporting their experiences.”
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