Fears of a rise in racism in Laois

A member of the Laois Joint Policing Committee says “racism is on the rise again” in the county.

Public Participation Network(PPN) member Sara Rasool said that in her dealings with “muslim women and ethnic minorities in Portlaoise, that racism is on the rise again.” 

She is aware of incidents where “people driving past somebody shouting out the window” of a passing vehicle.

Mrs Rasool said some students in Portlaoise were also experiencing abuse.  “They are also finding that they are being called names because of the colour of their skin,”  she said. 

Ms Rasool explained that there can be a cultural barrier to be overcome in relation to reporting such crimes. She said education was needed particularly in relation to those in Direct Provision Centres. 

“They don’t know to report when there is attacks or racist abuse,” she said.  

She expressed a belief that more police interaction with minority communities, increased education and diversity on the policing committee would help tackle such barriers. 

Garda Superintendent Eamon Curley said “I think you have identified the problem and most of the solution.” 

“I would encourage anybody who feels they have been a victim to report it to gardaí,” he said. 

Supt Curley explained that gardaí hold information events in the Direct Provision Centres. 

Mrs Rasool said she works with ethnic minorities in school and is in contact with others in the mosque and she said, “they are afraid to come forward”. 

Supt Curley said “we will come up with a solution” and he suggested she could “bridge that gap” and bring any information forward in relation to any incidents she is aware of.

Meanwhile, Portlaoise Local Election candidate, Nigerian national, Bolagi Adeyanju, believes Laois is a progressive place. He says racists are active online but he believes the vast majority of these are not from Laois or even the Midlands. 

“I don’t see it, particularly in terms of face-to-face, in the Midlands, in the Laois area, people are nice,” he said. 

Mr Adeyanju has lived in Laois for eight years and is resident in Ireland for 20 years. He has enjoyed canvassing for the local elections and he is particularly pleased that people are discussing issues like immigration. 

“It is really positive. People are not afraid to talk about immigration at the doors and that is important, we are engaging,” Mr Adeyanju said.

An Garda Síochána recently published figures on Hate Crimes and Hate Related (non-crime) Incidents reported during 2023. The statistics showed a 12 percent increase in Hate Crime nationally.

The Garda Diversity and Integration Strategy outlines how Hate Crimes are recorded.  

"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.”

Incidents were recorded across all nine of these discriminatory motives last year.

As some incidents have more than one discriminatory motive, 696 discriminatory motives were recorded last year. This is up from 617 in 2022 and 483 in 2021.

The most prevalent discriminatory motive was anti-race (36%), followed by anti-nationality (18%) and anti-sexual orientation (16%). These three motives have been the most common across in the past three years, however, anti-nationality overtook anti-sexual orientation to become the second most prevalent motive in 2023.

Once again during 2023, hate motives were evident in a variety of reported crime incident types. The largest percentage being recorded in public order (27%), minor assaults (16%) and criminal damage not by fire (9%) and criminal damage by fire (3%).

As was the case during 2022, the largest proportion (44%) of hate related incidents occurred in the Dublin Metropolitan Region. The three other operational regions recorded north-western (21%) southern (19%) and eastern (16%).

An Garda Síochána continues to strengthen its network of diversity officers to support victims and those affected by hate discrimination in communities around Ireland. At present there are over 500 Garda Diversity Officers working across the country who engage with minority communities and individuals on a daily basis to provide them with re-assurance and address issues of concern for them.