Reports of racism in Ireland - Data from iReport.ie 2020 Authored by Dr Lucy Michael - Irish Network Against Racism
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Data from iReport.ie2020
Reports of racism in Ireland
Authored by Dr Lucy Michael
INAR network members
About iReport
The iReport is a human rights monitoring tool coordinate common civil society-led responses to
which takes the form of half-yearly and thematic racism and racial discrimination at local, nation-
observatories on racist incidents in Ireland. The al and European level. iReport.ie was launched in
iReport observatory compiles its data from infor- 2013. Its recording and reporting aligns with best
mation submitted by people who have been sub- practice as set out by the OSCE’s Office for Dem-
jected to racism, by frontline anti-racist organisa- ocratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR),
tions, trade unions and other organisations that and the recommendations from the Council of
are committed to combating racism, and by the Europe’s European Commission on Racism and
general public. It uses iReport.ie, an online racist Intolerance (ECRI) 2013 report on Ireland. The re-
incident reporting system which can be found at port generates data that is also compatible with
www.iReport.ie iReport.ie is a system that makes the monitoring requirements of UN CERD, the EU
it as easy as possible for people to self-report rac- Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), and other in-
ist incidents by using the online form. It is a way ternational Human Rights bodies. As such, the sys-
for people whose voices are often unheard, to have tem should be seen as neither an alternative to, nor
those voices heard and to participate in the nation- an extension of, the criminal justice system’s own
al conversation on racism. To facilitate this, the recording mechanisms. This system is embedded
reporting mechanism is designed to be as inclu- in a network of over 140 locally-based organisa-
sive of all communities as possible, and one which tions working in anti-racism and allows for locally
strives to overcome many of the barriers to report- gathered information to be fed into national data
ing. These barriers mean that people from minori- and analysed separately. While locally based and
ty ethnic communities experience racism which sectoral organisations retain locally gathered data,
goes unrecorded and unacknowledged by the state which they use to inform localised and sectoral
and wider society. To overcome these barriers the responses to racism, the national data is analysed
iReport.ie reporting form guarantees confiden- and compiled into yearly and thematic reports,
tiality, is short and easy to use, is written in plain and used to inform the public, support lobbying
English, and can be filled in anonymously, if the submissions, and contribute to a broader nation-
person so wishes. The system also allows for people al conversation on racism. To ensure the analysis
to be supported in recording racist incidents by or- of the iReport system is in line with robust inter-
ganisations working with those communities most national standards of data collection and analysis,
at risk of racism. In addition to this, witnesses and and for comparators with relevant international
by-standers can also report, as can third parties research, INAR has partnered with Dr Lucy Mi-
who have heard of incidents in their communi- chael, a Research and Training Consultant in the
ties. In this way iReport.ie is a tool intended to help areas of integration and equality. Dr Michael is an
“Break the Silence on Racism”. iReport.ie and the authority on hate crime recording systems and on
iReport are managed by the Irish Network Against the impact of hate crimes on communities, and
Racism (INAR), a member of the European Network has led the analysis of iReport.ie data since 2013.
Against Racism (ENAR). INAR and ENAR work to
*For citation, please use; Michael, L (2021) Reports of racism in Ireland: Data from iReport.ie. - Annual Report 2020. Dublin: Irish
iReport | 2020
Network Against Racism.”
*For information on data analysis please email: research@inar.ie
3
Our definitions
INAR uses the definition of Racism as established This definition has been adopted by police
by the UN International Convention on the Elimi- forcesacross the UK (where the Association
nation of all Forms of Racial Discrimination of Chief Police Officers welcomed it for the
(CERD) (1969): ‘Any distinction, exclusion, restric- ‘clarity’ it givespolice forces) and was also
tion or preference, based on race, colour, descent, adopted by An GardaSíochána, the Irish po-
national or ethnic origin, which has the purpose lice force. The definitionis also consistent
of modifying or impairing the recognition, the en- with the standards set by theOSCE’s Of-
joyment or exercise on an equal footing of human fice for Democratic Institutions andHuman
rights and fundamental freedom in the political, Rights (ODIHR), and which are used in the
economic, social, cultural, or any other field of iReport.ie online questionnaire:
public life constitutes racial discrimination.’
For an expanded discussion on INAR’s definitions Why would you or the person it happened to say
of racism, see: the incident was racist?
https://inar.ie/racism-in-ireland/
learn-aboutracism/ •Racist language was used
•Language about the person’s religion was
What is a racist incident? used
Following the above definition, a racist incident is •There did not appear to be any other possible
any incident which has the effect of undermining motive
anyone’s enjoyment of their human rights, based • It was about something else,but racism cam-
on their background. INAR follows international einto it
best practice in adopting the definition set out
by UK Lord McPherson in his Report of the Inquiry Racist incidents (as distinct from racist
into the Murder of Stephen Lawrence (1999), crimes) include a range of acts which are
namely that a racist incident is: ‘any incident racist but which may or may not meet the
which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any criteria for being considered criminal of-
other person’. fences, or which may be deemed by law
enforcement to be too difficult to secure
A racist incident is
convictions with. While some incidents
are deemed too hard to prosecute, they are
nevertheless important to capture, since
any incident which research shows them to have an effect on
individuals, communities and community
has the effect of relations that is much more harmful than
their ‘mildness’ might suggest. Patterns of
undermining anyone’s
these ‘minor’ incidents can also act as warn-
ings of more serious incidents. For the same
reasons, the UK Association of Chief Police
enjoyment of their Officers (ACPO), in its guidelines on moni-
toring incidents, recommends that police
human rights, based forces record all racist incidents, criminal
iReport | 2020
and non-criminal. New recording practices
on their background
being brought online An Garda Síochána in
2021 will be able to capture these.
4
How we count crimes ing rules, a continuous series of offences
Under Garda counting rules, one offence is against the same victim involving the same
counted per victim for any crime incident (i.e. offender counts as one offence.
criminal event). So, irrespective of the num-
ber of offenders it is the number of victims of Thus reports to iReport.ie against a single vic-
an incident that dictate how many offences tim or family are counted as a single offence
will be recorded. iReport.ie reflects this sys- if the offender is known or likely to be the
tem by counting the number of reports made, same person(s), to reflect the counting rules
rather than each individual criminal offence of An Garda Síochána. The same rules apply
or other type of incident. Under crime count- to our reports to ODIHR and other bodies.
Why report?
Reporting racist crimes and discrimination to be targeted, and hold statutory agencies
goes a long way to support work across Ire- and government accountable for failures in
iReport | 2020
land by INAR members to achieve better this area.
services for victims of crime and discrim-
ination, better protection for those likely
5
Director’s foreword Shane OCurry
2020 will be remembered as the year of the Covid upwards in the first quarter, and their subsequent
pandemic, and for the up-ending of our ‘normal’ decrease much less than might have been expect-
working, school and day-to-day lives. For minorities ed, resulting in a record high for recorded assaults
in Ireland it was the same and more. Globally, the (51 this period compared to 50 in 2019). In addition
pandemic threw into sharp contrast the contours to the BLM wave, minorities also experienced a re-
of structural racism and discrimination. Data from actionary backlash fashioned in the US; Irish far-
the UK and the US showed how ethnic minorities right actors imported conspiracy theories about
and migrants are more susceptible to infection, Covid to activate their followers and incited vio-
and experience poorer outcomes from treatment, lence through the exploitation of racist myths. In
including suffering higher mortality rates. The this period, a record 69 reports concerned incite-
structural bases for these disparities are evident in ment to hatred by far right hate groups. Among
Ireland in the overrepresentation of minorities in these, a number of Irish far-right scammers who
healthcare and other frontline roles, in the noto- have become adept at inciting hatred against whole
rious conditions in Direct Provision centres, in the groups, and sometimes named individuals, while
accommodation conditions which make Travellers, skilfully navigating Irish law and social media plat-
Roma and migrants more exposed to infection, in forms’ “community standards”, have contributed
the conditions in food factories where minorities significantly both to online toxicity and fake news,
and migrants are overrepresented, and in the un- and to the new phenomenon of conspiracy-theory
equal access to healthcare, social welfare and work- informed anti-mask and covid denial protests.
place safety protections facing all minorities.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the biggest growth in re-
In 2019 we had reported on the conditions which ports related to online racism. These can be seen
made racialised commentary rewarding for public on social media platforms,on the facebook pages of
figures. In February 2020, 34 reports were made established broadcast and print media, and in the
relating to maverick billionaire Michael O’Leary’s growing number of fake news stories emanating
pugnacious comments calling for the profiling from the web of “journalistic” outlets which con-
of Muslims, and the toxic outpourings which fol- tribute to the increasingly sophisticated far-right
lowed. Racist abuses and discriminatory behaviour ecosphere. Media and social media incidents ac-
thrived in the pandemic, their expression adapt- counted for 594 reports in this period, compared to
ing to new conditions and developments, but also 174 in 2019, with Facebook, whose business model
opening new opportunities for pushback. Chinese incentivises salacious content, as the number one
people, Asians and minorities in general became culprit (119). A total of 56 reports related to a fake
more conspicuous to attackers, both online and news story circulating widely which falsely alleged
offline in some high profile hate crimes, with per- that a Romanian haulage company was trafficking
petrators often blaming their victims for the pan- stolen goods. The Irish far right fake news indus-
demic. 31 of the hate speech reports related directly try came in to its own in August when a planted
to the pandemic. manufactured story falsely blaming African youth
for starting a house fire in Balbriggan, Co Dublin
Six years into the UN Decade of People of African went viral. It would rear its ugly head again with
Descent (UNIDPAD), and five years after the publi- the manufacture of dehumanising disinformation
cation of INAR’s Afrophobia in Ireland, the global about 27 years old George Nkencho, a black man
wave of horror at the police killing of George Floyd who had been suffering a mental distress episode
washed over Ireland, resonating with black Irish ex- when he was shot dead by the Garda Armed Sup-
periences on the ground; years of ongoing reports port Unit on December 30. The disinformation
of racist violence and discrimination, and in 2020, rapidly gained traction, undermining wider com-
more incidents of racial profiling and an emerging munity sympathy for Nkencho and his family and
new trend in reports of failures to act and of poor stoking community tensions. A Garda statement
treatment by Gardaí. Against this background, some days later helped ease tensions. Although
events in the US sparked a younger generation of symbolic of promising changes in police policies
Irish minority activists to leapfrog old leaderships and practice, such measures are often criticised
in anti racism, organise their own rallies and use for being ‘too little, too late’. Work has begun with
their own voice to proclaim : “ Black Lives Matter!” the Government on a National Action Plan Against
Racism (NAPAR), as required by the UN. A NAPAR
If the lockdown and associated closures saw mod- holds the promise of being able to deploy the re-
est decreases in incidences of direct discrimina- sources of the state to tackle racism at a systemic
iReport | 2020
tion and racism in institutions (with the highest level and in all the areas it is reproduced. Whether
decrease in reports relating to public servants), and we succeed in developing such a NAPAR is a ques-
on-the-street racism, the trend had been sharply tion of political will and resourcing.
6
Overview 2020
There were 700 reports received in 2020. Crimi- to avoid threatening environments, but many
nal offences excluding incitement to hatred con- minorities and migrants are subject to racism
stituted 159 reports. Discrimination accounted in essential sectors which continued to remain
for 99 reports, and other recordable racist inci- open, and in their use of local public spaces, and
dents accounted for 143 reports. There were 334 these have may been affected to a lower extent
reports concerning hate speech, almost double by lockdown than other sectors and groups.
that of 2019.
• There is a slight increase of reporting crime to
• The high rate of assaults observed in 2019 con- police in 2020 (13% on 2019)
tinued in 2020 despite the impact of lockdown • 11% of all incidents resulted in physical injury.
on other types of incidents. • Psychological impacts and social isolation re-
• Reports overall increased, particularly criminal sulting from racist abuse and violence have
offences, hate speech and graffiti more than doubled, as have financial impacts
• Rates of repeat harassment, serious threats, for people forced to leave jobs and move homes.
thefts and workplace racism were slightly • A new high level of hate speech by extremist
down from 2019 rates. These may be attribut- groups is reported – much more significant
able to the lockdowns that allowed some people than in 2019.
Racist crime
Criminal offences against the person and criminal damage, as
Of the 700 reports received in 2020, 334 of well as other offences.
these referred to hate speech (some of which
are prosecutable under the Incitement to A further 143 incidents did not constitute crimi-
Hatred Act 1989) and are dealt with sepa- nal offences on their own, but should be record-
iReport | 2020
rately later in this report. Excluding these, ed where they are part of a pattern of harass-
there were 159 cases involving criminal ment. Sixty-one cases reported in 2020 clearly
offences in 2020. These included offences met the standards of criminal harassment.
7
Serious criminal harms against the poor management of the Direct
Racist assaults were the subject of 51 cases in Provision centre they lived in.
2020. This is the highest ever rate of assaults
reported to iReport.ie, continuing the pattern There were a further 51 cases which in-
of 2019. Most assaults resulted in physical in- volved other types of threats, often relating
juries as well as having significant impacts on to threats to a person’s employment, access
mental health. to services, reputation or threat to exclude
in some way. Threats like these can also
Cases involving assault frequently involve have serious consequences when they affect
people known to the targeted persons. In these someone’s livelihood or ability to continue
cases, patterns of harassment can escalate living in the area, and often have mental
over time if they are not addressed, and result health impacts which are related to exclu-
in multiple crimes against a person or group, sion and isolation.
including serious injury, threats, arson, and
criminal damage.
Racist assaults were
• A Chinese woman was racially abused and
then pushed into a canal by teenagers while
out walking
the subject of 51 cases
• A Black-African man was headbutted while
standing on the street in an area he was vis-
in 2020. This is the
iting professionally, after being accused of
damaging a resident’s car. highest ever rate of
• Several young people of Chinese background
were racially abused and assaulted in a pub- assaults reported to
lic park
• A white Irish woman was assaulted af-
ter photographing passersby who racially
iReport.ie, continuing
abused her friend
• A South Asian man walking to a nearby shop
the pattern of 2019
was grabbed and verbally abused by a group
of people who then attempted to abduct him
• An Asian man suffered a fracture to his face Repeat harassment
when he was jumped upon and punched Repeat harassment was reported in 101 cases in
multiple times by a group who took his wal- 2020, including at home, in schools, workplaces,
let and demanded his pin number. They later and public settings. Repeat harassment also in-
assaulted another person in the same area. cludes harassment online or by telephone (both
criminal offences) combined with physical prox-
Incidents of serious and general threat imity. Examples of repeat harassment reported
There were 36 threats to kill or cause seri- in 2020 include:
ous harm, which included 6 of the above as-
saults. Arson was involved in 3 cases. • A Black carer of a disabled child was report-
ed to Gardaí by neighbours when he left the
• A South Asian woman was threatened by child’s house with the child.
a group on the Luas who screamed and • A restaurant owner exploited, underpaid and
lunged at her face multiple times and sur- racially abused multiple employees on a per-
rounded her. Other passengers did not in- sistent basis, paying the equivalent of 1 euro
tervene but sat with her after the group per hour to unregistered workers.
left. • A Black-Irish woman had a photo put online in
• A Black-African was subjected to racist and imitation of her to ridicule her and direct ha-
homophobic threats of violence by a group rassment by others to her.
in the street • A Traveller family experienced neighbours
• A Black-Irish man was attacked and threat- throwing stones and eggs at their doors and
ened with a bottle by a neighbour, then windows and their car, using racist slurs and
treated roughly and arrested by armed exposing themselves to the family (including
Gardaí because of a false claim by a wit- young children)
iReport | 2020
ness that he had a knife. • A Muslim man was subjected to theft, abuse
• One family of asylum seekers received a and harassment by housemates over a period
death threat after speaking out at a meeting of months.
8
• A Traveller family were subjected to a cam- ing pattern of racism, particularly those which
paign of harassment by neighbours, including have escalated to violence over a period of time,
a local residents’ association, and eventually demonstrate that Garda efforts to tackle racism
moved into temporary accommodation else- before it escalates need to improve. Even where
where. They have moved twice, with their ha- cases are attended by Gardaí in accordance with
rassers notifying their new neighbours each good practice, there is continued evidence that
time. One new house was attacked, locks were the responses are inadequate to protect vic-
glued and other damage sustained. At the sec- tims from ongoing abuse and violence. These
ond, neighbours gathered outside at night to cases demonstrate the need for a good practice
loudly threaten the family. handbook on addressing repeat harassment and
• Owners of two Chinese-run businesses expe- regular review of these cases to identify risk of
rienced repeat harassment and criminal dam- escalation to violence, and consistent responses
age from groups who attacked them with ra- where violence is already being perpetrated.
cial slurs and references to Covid-19.
There are, at present, no clear policies in An Gar-
In the 2020 data, we also applied the defini- da Síochána for dealing with repeat harassment
tion of harassment used in Non-Fatal Offences and the escalation of abuse that attends a high
Against the Person Act, 1997, Section 10, that is, number of instances. Good policing practice re-
“Any person who, without lawful authority or quires risk assessments for repeat harassment,
reasonable excuse, by any means including by and in the cases of repeat incidents, a harm re-
use of the telephone, harasses another by per- duction strategy to be drawn up for each case.
sistently following, watching, pestering, beset- While An Garda Síochána have introduced such
ting or communicating with him or her”. Six- assessments for domestic violence cases, there
ty-one of the above cases met this standard. This is no such policy for racist harassment. Cases of
figure does not include any application of new repeat harassment in this period again demon-
offences contained in the Harassment, Harmful strate the vulnerability that targeted families
Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 and communities feel as a result.
as it was not in operation for this period.
Schoolchildren are likely to experience re-
Levels of trust in Gardaí to address racism con- peat harassment in association with atten-
tinue to be low in relation to harassment, and dance at school or youth clubs as well as in
the continuing high number of reports which the neighbourhood. College and university
indicate that the incidents are part of an ongo- students also report harassment. There were
iReport | 2020
9
fewer incidents reported in 2020, probably lieve that they don’t meet the legislative
due in part to the increase in online teaching. standards for criminal offences and illegal
Cases reported to iReport.ie frequently in- discrimination, it is clear to us that many of
clude not only poor responses to harassment them may include harassment or public or-
by other students, but also racist incidents der offences. We do not make a judgement
perpetrated by staff. Anti-racism training is on these in the absence of such an assertion
not compulsory for educators or other staff. by the reporting parties since additional de-
These locations offer opportunities for re- tails are often required to ascertain if they
dress and future prevention, but there is a meet the legal standard.
need particularly in the Education sector to
provide guidance for dealing with this kind
of harassment. There were a further
• Students at a community college described
persistent harassment from the Principal and
143 incidents
others students which created an intolerable
environment. Racist abuse was not dealt with reported to iReport.
ie in 2020 which
appropriately, and explicitly racist slurs were
reportedly used by the Principal against Black
and Muslim students.
Criminal damage, theft and graffiti
were not described
Thirty-five reports in this period concerned
single or multiple counts of criminal damage
as crimes by those
excluding graffiti. These incidents included
damaged cars, damaged house windows, doors who reported them
and external walls, damage following forced
entry into people’s homes and destruction of
personal property, including mobile phones Of these, 116 included verbal abuse, 28 in-
and clothing. Assaults in several cases result- cluded offensive ‘jokes’, 13 included threats
ed in damaged clothing, broken glasses and a and behaviour which was threatening to
broken watch. Two cases concerned stolen and those targeted. To be very clear, these are not
broken childrens’ bikes/scooters. Five reports ‘microaggressions’, the kinds of remarks,
concerned damage of business premises. questions, or actions that are painful be-
cause they are biased or stereotyping, and
There were 10 cases of theft in this period. which happen casually, frequently, and even
Three related to thefts by groups in public, 1 often without any harm intended, in every-
to theft by an employer from an employee’s day life. These incidents are explicit, inten-
accommodation, 2 to thefts from shops with tional and intended to exclude, shame and/
racial abuse of ethnic minority employees, or stigmatise the targeted person(s).
and 2 related to continuing harassment from
neighbours. • A group screamed homophobic racist slurs
at a mixed race man on a public street. A
There were 44 reports of racist graffiti in this passerby offered to walk him home because
period, double the previous year. Ten were he was so shaken by the abuse.
on homes, 11 in public streets and parks (2 in • A South Asian man and his friend standing
multiple locations across the area), and 11 on in a queue outside a shop was approached
public transport. Five were on public build- by a stranger who asked for money. When
ings, including 2 schools. Thirty-three of the refused, she yelled racial abuse, saying that
incidents were reported by people who were they were taking Irish jobs. Witnesses said
not members of minority groups targeted by and did nothing.
the graffiti. • An Asian woman was photographed on the
street by a stranger who threatened to re-
Racist incidents port her to police for not social distancing
There were a further 143 incidents report- during Covid-19.
ed to iReport.ie in 2020 which were not de- • A Black man standing outside a shop was
iReport | 2020
scribed as crimes by those who reported racially abused and threatened with vio-
them. These types of incidents often include lence. Passersby did nothing, and he was
multiple elements and though victims be- left very shaken.
10Most racist incidents which don’t include well- to cause fear. This is a highly unusual detail to
known offences are not reported to Gardaí be- receive in iReport.ie, since victims of racism are
cause victims and witnesses are unsure about often advised that nothing can be done.
the legislation that applies to more serious in-
cidents, and because they feel they will not be Clarity in the legislation that applies, support for
taken seriously. Of the 143 incidents which were victims in understanding how to report racist
neither described as ‘crimes’ or ‘illegal discrim- incidents and ensure that they are recorded as
ination’, only 17 incidents were reported to Gar- racist incidents, and support in following up on
daí. In one case targeting a Black-African Mus- investigations are necessary to ensure that the
lim family, Gardaí spoke to the perpetrator and full range of incidents is recorded and investi-
advised the family to seek a court order if ha- gated, and information given to victims. Policy
rassment persisted. In a case of a single incident change and training in An Garda Síochána are
of verbal abuse on someone’s doorstep, against necessary to ensure that racist incidents which
a professional white European family, Gardaí do not constitute crimes, but which can evi-
said that they could charge the perpetrator with dence harassment (under the Non-fatal Offenc-
a public order offence and trespass with intent es Against the Person Act, 1997), are recorded.
Illegal racial discrimination
Reports about illegal discrimination concerned
access to employment, housing and healthcare Two migrants were
racially abused by
as well as access to goods and services protected
by law. The Equal Status Acts 2000-2018 prohib-
it discrimination in the provision of goods and
services, accommodation and education. These
Acts apply to public and private sector goods and
a fellow employee
services equally. The Employment Equality Acts
1998-2011 outlaw discrimination in a wide range
in the supermarket
of employment and employment-related areas.
where they worked.
They did not feel
Both sets of Acts cover the nine grounds of gen-
der, marital status, family status, age, disability,
sexual orientation, race, religion, and member-
ship of the Traveller community. Discrimination
is defined as treating one person in a less favour-
safe to complain
able way than another person based on any of
the nine discriminatory grounds.
about him to
Ninety-nine cases of illegal discrimination were management for fear
of losing their jobs
reported in 2020. Thirty-five of those cases also
included crimes such as assault, threat to kill or
harm, theft, harassment, and false accusations
of criminal wrongdoing.
Sixteen cases in this period concerned discrimina-
Discrimination in employment tory treatment at work by colleagues or employ-
Discrimination can occur in an employment ers. Discrimination in work is, in reports submit-
context in several ways: in the way in which a job ted to iReport.ie, usually accompanied by verbal
is advertised; in the decision regarding whether abuse and sometimes physical abuse, as well as
or not to hire an applicant; during the period of lesser treatment. Bullying, harassment, being
employment; in a decision to bring an employ- given worse jobs because of ethnicity and being
ment contract to an end; and, after the employ- forced to quit employment (constructive dismiss-
ment has come to end, regarding the provision al) are all contrary to equality law in employment.
(or non-provision) and content of references. These amount to discrimination by an employer
iReport | 2020
Employment equality legislation also places a if they failed to take action following complaint.
responsibility on employers to prevent bullying However fear of losing a job and not getting a ref-
and harassment in the workplace. erence deter reporting in some cases.
11• Two migrants were racially abused by a fel- Despite the temporary closure of pubs and
low employee in the supermarket where they restaurants in 2020, there were 12 reports of
worked. They did not feel safe to complain poor or refused service in the first quarter,
about him to management for fear of losing higher than in the whole of 2019. Discrimina-
their jobs. tion in other locations included refused service
• A shop manager was subjected to racist abuse, and poor service for ethnic minority and mi-
and then false complaints, by employees and grant customers.
their families. Having closed the complaints
against him, the company refused to deal with • A bar manager told his staff to refuse all
the racist abuse experienced. bookings from Traveller families
• A Traveller woman was followed around a
In other cases, employees reported how se- supermarket by a staff member who then re-
nior managers using racial slurs in the normal fused to allow her to scan her items herself at
course of their work created an intolerable the self-scan facility and took her items to do
workplace environment, this included making it, watched by other shoppers.
slurs directly to people from racialised groups. • A Brazilian family and child were ignored
for hours by reception staff when the child
• A senior legal executive used racial slurs re- needed prompt medical treatment
peatedly in front of junior colleagues to intim- • A pharmacy told South Asian customers
idate them. they had no stock of hand sanitiser to sell
• A manager used slurs about Travellers to de- them, but sold it a short time later to white
scribe work as substandard. Irish customers.
A further four reports concerned discrimination
in applying for work. This tends to be reported
less because it is difficult to confirm.
A pharmacy told
• A foreign-born doctor applied for a specialist
role which was given to a less experienced, less South Asian
educated Irish colleague.
A further 7 cases concerned racist abuse at
customers they
work by a customer or service user. These
might amount to discrimination by an employ-
had no stock of
er if they failed to take action following com-
plaint (as we have frequently seen in previous hand sanitiser to
reports). In these cases, the employers took ac-
tion where possible. sell them, but sold
Additionally there are cases which have clear
impact on people’s access to the workplace, but
it a short time
which have no recourse to justice.
later to white Irish
• A candidate in a professional exam was told to
go back to their home country by an examin-
er during the exam. No appeal was allowed on
customers
the results.
Discrimination in other cases included re-
Discrimination in access to goods fused service and poor service for ethnic mi-
and services nority customers.
Fifty-nine cases involved restricted access to
goods or services because of illegal racial dis- • A Post Office customer was racially abused
crimination against their ethnic or religious by another customer, and then told to leave
background. This is an insignificant increase by staff who refused to serve him.
on 2019 figures. Twenty-one of these cases also • A beauty salon repeatedly told a South Asian
included criminal offences against the person. woman to come back later, while serving
other customers without appointment at
iReport | 2020
In thirty-nine cases, persons were refused ser- the same time. She was eventually served
vice. A further twenty cases involved people hours later but treated with rudeness. She
given poor service. was very disappointed.
12Twenty-five incidents of discrimination • A Black protestor outside the US embassy
were against people who were identified as was asked for his name and address by a Gar-
Black-African, Black-Irish or Black-Other. Four da who did not do the same to a white protes-
of these involved discrimination by Gardaí. tor with him.
Eight were against Irish Travellers. Nine were • A Black-African couple were pulled over by a
against Muslims (of whom 4 were also Black). Garda for having no insurance who refused
Eight incidents were against white-Europeans, to accept their valid documents of insurance
of which two involved Gardaí refusing to act in or to allow them to return home to get sup-
cases of criminal offences. Five were against porting documents.
Asian-Chinese people and six were against
South Asian people. There are also concerns about violence by Gar-
daí. In one case, Gardaí are described as hav-
Accommodation ing assaulted a woman removed from her car
Five cases involved discrimination in find- during a stop suffered a head injury – a video of
ing somewhere to live or in rental contracts. the incident circulated widely on social media.
In two cases, people experienced explicit rac-
ism from private landlords when attempting Reporting discrimination
to rent apartments. The number of cases re- Reporting of discrimination is increasing, al-
garding accommodation searches were lower though most reporting parties do not know
during 2020 than 2019 due to the impact of where best to report their experiences. Of the
Covid-19 restrictions. 111 incidents of illegal discrimination report-
ed to iReport.ie, 40 (36%) were not reported to
In this same period, a ‘House the Irish First’ anyone else. Eleven cases (13%) were report-
group was established to protest against for- ed to An Garda Síochána, and 54 (49%) were
eign-born persons having access to social reported to other organisations. The majori-
housing in west Dublin. The group threat- ty of complaints were made to organisations
ened journalists and passers-by, and shared responsible for the racist discrimination (or
racial slurs online. Their material was shared failing to respond to it) and received no appro-
widely in mainstream media, on radio and in priate response. This level and direction of re-
newspapers. porting is consistent with previous periods.
Public sector Twenty-seven cases included both criminal of-
Public sector staff are bound by the Public Sec- fences and illegal discrimination, but only five
tor Human Rights and Equality Duty as well as of these were reported to Gardaí. A quarter of
by the Acts mentioned above. Despite that, 16 these cases were not reported to anyone.
cases of illegal discrimination were in the pub-
lic sector. Members of the public accessing any
public service are entitled to do so without dis-
crimination, including healthcare, social hous- Racial profiling [by
Gardaí] continues
ing, education and welfare supports. Although
there are fewer reports in this area in 2020,
these correlate with periods of opening of pub-
lic buildings. It may be that discrimination is
less visible when services are online due to re-
to be a feature of
cording capabilities in public organisations.
current practice,
and there is no
There were 8 complaints specifically about re-
fused or poor service by members of An Garda
Síochána. The police service in Ireland is also
bound by the Public Sector Human Rights and
Equality Duty to carry out their functions with-
legislation to govern
out discrimination. Racial profiling continues
to be a feature of current practice, and there this practice.
is no legislation to govern this practice. When
non-Irish people are subjected to police stops,
and are required to produce identity cards, the
iReport | 2020
practice has the potential to perpetuate racist
incidents and the profiling of individuals on
the basis of their race and colour.
13Reporting crimes
and racist incidents
This section excludes hate speech
Fourteen percent
Reporting to Gardaí
Forty-three percent of those reporting crimes to also said (although
iReport.ie also reported them to An Garda Síochá-
na or to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Com-
mission (GSOC). This is a 13 percent increase on
it was not listed in
2019. Just 12 percent of cases described as racist
incidents were reported to Gardaí, even though
the survey) that
they included some criminal offences and pat-
terns which evidenced harassment. they would report if
they thought that
Of those that reported a crime or racist incident
(excluding illegal discrimination) to An Garda
Síochána, 27 percent appeared satisfied with the
response they were receiving. Half of these were
waiting on investigations to commence the inci-
Gardaí would take
dent having only taken place in previous days.
Poor responses by Gardaí included refusing to action on criminal
record crimes, failing to attend the scene and
offences that
iReport | 2020
collect evidence, failing to take statements from
victims and investigate crimes, and failing to
communicate updates to victims. involved racism
14In one case of ongoing violent racial harassment
of a child, Gardaí have investigated for 3 years The survey also
asked about bad
and still have made no arrests of perpetrators. A
victim of assault was not helped by Gardaí, and
was assaulted again a few months later by the
same perpetrators. In a case of neighbourhood
harassment of their family, a parent repeatedly
experiences with
went in person to the Garda station over a period
of months to report offences, and no Garda took police in other
countries, or
a statement.
The above data should be considered also in light
of the reports of illegal discrimination and racial
profiling by Gardaí described in the previous sec-
unwillingness to
tion, which were unusually high in 2020.
talk to or disclose
Reporting crime to other organisations
Twenty-nine percent of crimes were reported
to other organisations, similar to 2019 levels.
personal details
Reports were made to organisations including
ethnic minority, migrant or anti-racist organ-
to police, these
isations, public and private sector employers
of the perpetrators, and rights organisations. answers were
selected rarely
Others reported to doctors, lawyers, residents’
associations, citizens’ advice centres, housing
organisations, councillors, public transport
bodies and educational institutions. Most of
these do not have any mechanism for recording
(Targeted groups
Ethnic, religious and racialised identities Muslims reported 17 percent of all crime cases
The group most commonly reporting experi- and 20 percent of all discrimination cases. There
ences of both crime and illegal discrimina- were far fewer reports from or about Hindus,
tion is the group of Black-African, Black-Irish Sikhs and Jews in relation to both crime and dis-
and Black-Other. They experienced 33 per- crimination. Christians experiencing discrimi-
cent of all crime cases and 33 percent of all nation almost exclusively did so again in 2020
discrimination cases. The next largest group because of an ethnic or racialised identity which
of reports came from South Asian, Chinese was not white-Irish.
and Other Asian people. South Asians and
Chinese or Other Asian each reported 16% of Nationality and immigration status
crimes, and South Asians reported 13% of dis- Irish citizens (of a wide range of ethnic and reli-
crimination. gious groups) were 29 percent of those targeted
in all cases. Non-EU visa holders were also 29%,
Nearly a third (32%) of assaults and threats and EU citizens were (13%). Ethnic minority
to kill or harm were against people identified citizens are more familiar with crime report-
as Black-African, Black-Irish or Black-Other. ing procedures and more likely to pursue com-
Eighteen percent were Muslim, but half of plaints for discrimination. However young eth-
these were also identified as Black. Eigh- nic minority citizens are also more likely to have
teen percent of assaults and threats to kill experienced racial profiling and to have lower
or harm were against people identified as trust in An Garda Síochána to deal with racist
South Asian, and 18 percent were Chinese or incidents. Seven percent of reports concerned
Other Asian. people who were asylum seekers, refugees or
undocumented. Five cases explicitly concerned
Low levels of reporting from Irish Travellers was bullying by management of Direct Provision
iReport | 2020
consistent with 2019. They reported 11 percent Centres, including provision of expired food,
of discrimination cases, but almost no crime or threats, and refusal to admit residents which
other racist incidents. rendered them homeless without appeal.
16The group most Gender
Men were 35% more likely to experience assault
commonly reporting than women, but men and women equally re-
ported other crimes, discrimination and other
experiences of both
incidents.
Age of targeted person(s)
crime and illegal People under 18 were reported as the primary
target in 10 percent of cases, but also appeared
discrimination is in other reports as secondary targets. These fig-
ures are consistent with 2019. People in the age
the group of Black- groups ’25-34’ and ’35-44’ were again the most
likely (at 32% and 28%) of any group to be tar-
geted in this period, followed by those aged ’18-
African, Black-Irish 25’ (12%). Under 18s were the primary targets in
11% of all crime cases, a welcome decrease from
and Black-Other… the 2019 figure of 20%.
Perpetrators
Perpetrators of crime compared to other years. There were 4 incidents
Perpetrators of racist crimes or racist incidents of racist discrimination by someone working in
were four times more likely to be adults than healthcare, including 2 doctors.
young people (80:20%). Men were more than 3
times more likely to be perpetrators of racist Men were three times as likely to illegally discrim-
crimes (45%) than women (13%) and almost twice inate (62%) as women (20%). Racist language was
as likely to be perpetrators of abuse (32%) than used in 45 percent of discrimination cases (a 15%
women (14%). Mixed male-female groups were re- increase on 2019).
sponsible for 11 percent of crime.
Staff in the public sectors were perpetrators of il-
Large groups of perpetrators (5+) were responsi- legal racial discrimination in 10 percent of cases.
ble for 27 percent of racist crimes and 11 percent This is a significant decrease on 2019. It is likely
of other racist incidents. Eighty-three percent of that the impact of Covid lockdown is visible in pat-
racist crime and abuse was by white Irish people. terns of discrimination by public servants because
Half of all crimes were committed by strangers. public buildings were closed and most interactions
Staff in public sector bodies including the police with the public moved online.
were responsible for 7 percent of crimes.
Institutional racism
Indicators of racism Institutional racism is evident in the policies
Racist language was the most common reason for and processes of a range of public sector or-
crimes to be reported as racist. Racist language was ganisations reporting in this period, and in
used in 70 percent of crimes, and in 54 percent of a significant number of cases in this period
other incidents Just 14 percent of criminal offenc- and previous periods, staff have openly and
es were believed to have been perpetrated by a per- illegally discriminated against people on the
son under the influence of alcohol or drugs. basis of their ethnicity or nationality. This is
despite the Public Sector Equality Duty creat-
In just 1 percent of crimes and other incidents, the ed by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act
targeted persons wore clothes that were of a par- 2014, which obliges public bodies and publicly
ticular religion or ethnic group. In 1 case, perpetra- funded organisations to eliminate unlawful
tors went to a mosque during Ramadan to select a discrimination, harassment and victimisation
victim, and hospitalised an asylum seeker there in and other conduct prohibited by the Act, as
an assault. well as to promote equality of opportunity and
take steps to foster good relations, including
iReport | 2020
Perpetrators of discrimination taking steps to meet the needs of people from
Strangers accounted for 20 percent of discrim- protected groups where these are different
ination cases. This is an unusually high figure from the needs of other people.
17Impact
Racism has a demonstrable impact on the higher rate to Black customers and customers
lives of those targeted. An analysis of the with English as a second language.
data on impact shows that there is psycho-
logical impact on those targeted, impact on Injuries cause long-term damage too. Although we
their social connectedness, and financial im- tend to describe short-term financial impacts only
pacts through for example increased costs or in this report, many reports allude to medium-
lost income. and long-term financial impacts. For example, in
2020, two international students were concerned
In 2020, psychological impacts and social isola- about the short-term costs of medical treatment
tion resulting from racist abuse and violence have and staying in the country to repeat exams after
more than doubled, as have financial impacts for a violent assault hospitalised them both, and not
people forced to leave jobs and move homes. being in work during that time, and the long-term
impact on their employment prospects.
There were 26 reported cases that include finan-
cial impacts were caused by losing employment, One hundred and eighty-two reports were de-
becoming homeless, having to move house, scribed as having a psychological impact on the
avoiding public transport, and being subjected victim (57% of incidents). This is more than twice
to exploitative labour. One Traveller family had the 2019 reported rate.
to move home 3 times due to continued harass-
ment day and night. “I suffer from panic attacks and I had to be
medicated.”
Medical and dental fees applied in relation to “My friend is feeling really intimidated and
serious injury from assaults. Clothing and be- shocked, she won’t dare go [there] in case
longings had to be replaced. Business premises she meets this racist woman again.”
were damaged, on multiple occasions, impact- “I feel suicidal and don’t go outside the
iReport | 2020
ing on repair costs and lost trade. Additional- house.”
ly, an insurance broker whose staff regularly “I am really scared to even go outside by
exchanged racist correspondence charged a myself.”
18In one family, three teenage children refuse to on targeted persons likely to be significantly re-
leave the house in case of attacks, and don’t sleep duced. Across the 2013-2020 iReport data, there
much because they fear attacks at home. Their is clear evidence that when people are targeted by
mother is now on medication for anxiety. racism do not see help being offered or do not feel
supported in any way by others in that context,
“Depression, frightened, threatened and feel- they are more likely to report more severe psy-
ing unsafe in our own house. Every time the chological impact, poor physical health, and high
bell rings, or the door knocked, we feel anx- levels of fear, and to take actions such as avoiding
ious and afraid to open the door even.” public spaces, transport, walking in their neigh-
bourhoods which further increase their isolation
Two teenage boys were left with depression and and sense of exclusion and make them more vul-
severe anxiety due to their physical treatment nerable to racial harassment.
during a Garda raid on their home after a neigh-
bour’s allegation of drug dealing.
Thirty-five cases resulted in physical injuries, in-
cluding 10 that immediately required hospitalisa- One Traveller
family had to move
tion. Eight involved head injuries, and a further 13
involved injuries to the eyes or face. Three cases
involved broken bones or teeth.
Two incidents were against women who were preg-
home 3 times
nant. One man with pre-existing conditions was
refused medical assessment in a Garda station.
due to continued
One hundred and four reports (33%) demonstrat-
ed impact in causing isolation and low trust in harassment day and
night
others, including in the victim’s neighbourhood.
These have significant consequences for long-
term cohesion, particularly so in cases of repeated
harassment, institutional racism and housing dis-
crimination.
“He was upset by the incident and noted that
“I suffer from panic
it made him worried about having children, as
they may have to face the same level of abuse attacks and I had to
be medicated”
and might even be afraid to leave the house.
He also said that he worried that other peo-
ple, even though they didn’t say it, shared the
same viewpoint as this man - that he wasn’t
welcome in Ireland and would always be sin-
gled out for his skin tone.”
“It’s demeaning and it’s not the first time
“My friend is feeling
they’ve experienced racism in work. They’re
treated differently to the Irish staff. They now really intimidated
and shocked, she
find it difficult to trust Irish people.”
Although INAR cannot offer direct support to
many people targeted by racism, there is an
evidenced need for greater direct support, and
won’t dare go [there]
a role for INAR’s network members to play in
this regard. This is particularly so in cases of
in case she meets
repeated harassment, institutional racism and
housing discrimination. this racist woman
Immediate bystander intervention
There are ranges of ways in which others around
again”
iReport | 2020
those targeted by racism are able to help. Even
where the racist behaviour is solely verbal, the ef-
fect of interventions is powerful and the impact
19Racist hate speech
There were 334 cases of racist hate speech reported enty reports concerned racism against white-other
in total in 2020. Europeans, of which 56 concerned racism against
Romanians and Roma on Facebook. Asylum seekers
News media and refugees were specifically targeted in 7 reports.
There were 36 reports of hate speech published by Thirty-six reports concerned hate speech against a
Irish newspapers (signatories to the Press Coun- wide range of ethnic minority and migrant groups.
cil Code of Conduct), and 4 reports of hate speech Racist language was used in 181 instances (54%),
published by Irish broadcasters (subject to BAI Code language about religion in 50 instances (15%), and
of Conduct). A further 18 reports concerned hate racist symbols or insignia in 36 cases (11%).
speech from news sites or newspapers who are not
signatories of the Press Council Code of Conduct. Racism in politics
These contained the most serious cases of Incite- There was 1 case reported where an elected Coun-
ment to Hatred published by any news media. cillor was involved in racist hate speech, broadcast
live on a local radio station, and 1 case of anti-Chi-
nese racist speech in the Dail by a sitting TD.
Sixty-nine reports A General Election took place in February 2020.
were capable of Eleven separate candidates in the General Elec-
tion were the subject of 26 reports. Thirteen cases
being identified as concerned candidate or party leaflets or flyers con-
taining racist incitement to hatred. Twelve reports
published directly concerned a single candidate, in leaflets, website,
videos and social media. She was banned from You-
Tube and investigated by Gardaí for Incitement to
by extreme hate Hatred after the election. Three political parties
were responsible for the majority of extreme hate
groups or well-known speech in this election reported.
far-right activists Reporting
One hundred and thirty-one cases reported by the
in Ireland. These public to iReport.ie were also reported elsewhere.
One hundred and thirteen of these were reported
directly to the media platform that published the
included threats hate speech. Most reports to iReport.ie were made
while reports were still under review by social me-
to a wide range of dia platforms. Action was taken in six cases to block
users or remove content. In 9 cases, platforms re-
minority groups fused to take action.
Five cases were referred to the Broadcasting Au-
thority of Ireland, and three cases to the Press Om-
Online platforms budsman. Sixteen cases were referred to Gardai.
There were 282 reports about racist hate speech Two incidents were under investigation by An Gar-
online. One hundred and nineteen were published da Síochána .
on Facebook, 42 on Twitter, 4 on YouTube, 21 on
Instagram, 7 on Snapchat and 2 on TikTok. Online A growing trend: far-right media
forums hosted 16 of the reports containing explicit We first included this section in the 2019 report, to
hate content. Twenty-two were published on other highlight a small number of reports particularly
websites. connected with far-right election candidates. There
has been significant growth in this area in 2020.
Targeted groups
The groups most targeted by hate speech in the 2020 Sixty-nine reports were capable of being identified
iReport | 2020
reports to iReport.ie were Black-African, Black-Irish as published directly by extreme hate groups or
and Black-Other (74 in total), Muslim (69), Traveller well-known far-right activists in Ireland. These in-
(35), South Asian (54), Chinese (29), Jewish (23). Sev- cluded threats to a wide range of minority groups.
20How to report an incident
You can report a racist incident online at www.ireport.ie or through
one of the iReport Reporting Centres listed overleaf (page 26)
What information do I need? Racism in the media
Our survey is designed to collect the maximum o Date & publication
information, but you do not have to fill in answers to
every question. Here’s a quick guide to some of the o Screen shot or URL
information you might like to provide.
Reporting
Questions marked * are not optional We ask about reporting so that we can track the
responses of relevant authorities and the effectiveness
What type of incident are you reporting? * of them.
o Something racist in the media or on the o Did you report it to anyone else e.g.
internet? Gardaí, local authority, school, Twitter,
o Physical harm / abuse / harassment/ etc?
damage / discrimination? o What was their response?
o Graffiti?
Why do you think the incident was racist?
Graffiti
o Racist language, images or symbols
o Date & location
o Religious-associated clothing on
o Photo targeted person
o Who was it targeting? o There was no other motivation
o It was about something else but racism
Physical harm / abuse/ harassment /
came into it
damage / discrimination
o What type of crime or incident is it – choose Impact
from list Racism can have very serious impacts on individual,
family and community life, and we would like to
AND/OR
understand better how incidents affect those targeted.
o What type of discrimination is it, e.g. o What impact did it have?
employment, housing, access to goods
and services? We will always ask the ethnicity and religion of
the targeted person(s). We will also ask details
o How many people were targeted?
about age, disability, and gender, and how
o Where was it? many people were targeted. We will also ask for
this information about the perpetrator(s), and
o Date
your relationship with them, but this is used
o Is it repeat harassment? for analysis only. We use this information only
to guide our analysis of racism in Ireland. We
o Were there injuries
will always consider any identifying details in
o Please describe the incident choosing what to publish from our data. Your
iReport | 2020
safety is our priority.
21You can also read
