Five serious racist incidents have been committed every week in Ireland, it was claimed today.

Discrimination, verbal harassment and attacks on family homes were among the perils faced, a study for the Immigrant Council of Ireland showed, and the frequency of reports is five times greater than last year.

Most incidents happened at work, on the internet or while accessing official services and mainly involved people from Africa, the organisation said.

Chief executive Denise Charlton warned: “It is clear that racism can happen in any place, with people feeling vulnerable at work, online and most alarmingly in their own homes.”

She said they would carry out a more detailed analysis of the figures and produce findings to contribute to the national discussion on racism.

“The message is now getting out, there is no acceptable level of racism,” she added.

A total of 50 serious racist incidents were reported to the Council in the 10 weeks since the launch of a major awareness campaign, according to preliminary figures drawn from email and telephone contacts.

The support group said many people said they had been subjected to a variety of forms of racism, including attacks on family homes which may also involve threats and verbal abuse. These targeted attacks happened at a number of locations.