An Garda Síochána – 2021 Hate Crime Data and Related Discriminatory Motives

An Garda Síochána – 2021 Hate Crime Data and Related Discriminatory Motives

• 448 hate crimes & hate related (non-crime) incidents recorded in 2021
  • 389 hate crimes
  • 59 hate related (non-crime) incidents

An Garda Síochána has today published figures on Hate Crimes and Hate Related (non-crime) Incidents reported in 2021.

An Garda Síochána policy is that “Reports of Hate Crimes or Hate Incidents will be recorded and investigated as appropriate, where it is perceived that the perpetrator’s hostility or prejudice against any person, community or institution is on the grounds of the victim’s age, disability, race, colour, nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender”.

A total of 483 discriminatory motives were recorded (some incidents have more than one discriminatory motive).  The most prevalent discriminatory motive was race (44%), followed by Sexual Orientation (15%) and Nationality (14%).  Incidents were recorded across all 9 Discriminatory motives.

Hate motives were evident in a range of crimes in 2021, the largest percentage being Public Order (35%), Minor Assaults (18%) and Criminal Damage (11%). 

The largest proportion of hate related incidents (50%) reported in 2021 occurred in the Dublin Metropolitan Region.  Across the other three operational regions there are quite similar proportions of incidents evident – Southern Region (19%), North-Western Region (16%) Eastern Region (15%).

Assistant Commissioner Paula Hilman, whose remit includes the Garda National Diversity and Integration Unit, welcomed the publication of these statistics, stating, “The definitions and recording practices launched in late 2020, are enabling us to gain greater insight into these discriminatory motives and respond accordingly. The release of figures today is the first following the introduction of new procedures, introduced under the Garda Diversity and Integration Strategy, which have enabled the establishment of a verified baseline to be used from 2021 onwards”.

Assistant Commissioner Hilman added, “Everyone has a right to live safely. Hate crimes have a huge impact on victims, because they are targeted because of who they are, and they also have a significant impact on the wider community. I want to thank that wider community, NGOs and the media for consistently highlighting the issue of hate crime, and I urge any person who has experienced or observed prejudice to come forward and report those incidents to us. I can assure people that complaints will be dealt with thoroughly and professionally.”

Detailed statistics/ infographic can be found at the bottom of this page or on the Statistics page.

An Garda Síochána Hate Crime Policy can be found here.

An Garda Síochána Diversity & Integration Strategy 2019 – 2021 can be found here.