RACISM continues to pose a problem for minorities living in Ireland, with a spike in reported incidents in south Dublin, a new report has found.

A total of 182 incidents of racism were reported via the confidential reporting system iReport in the final six months of 2014.

At least 59 incidents occurred in Dublin when a location was included in the report. Some 34 of these were in Dublin south which ENAR described as a "significant" rise in reported incidents in the area.

Shane O'Curry, director of the Irish branch of the European Network Against Racism, pointed out that the rise in reported incidents in south Dublin could show that people are becoming more aware of how to report racially motivated abuse or assault and of the importance of doing so.

"Anecdotally what we are hearing from those who are affected is that it is getting worse everywhere," Mr O'Curry told the Herald. "Language used during these attacks is becoming more vehement.

"There also seems to be the sense that people are entitled to be racist."

Racism is "grossly underreported" here according to the body.

The majority of incidents nationally involved racist language but 16 separate incidents of assault were reported by people who had either witnessed or experienced racially-motivated attacks. A further 17 complaints involved a serious threat being made to those who were targeted. Among the most worrying incidents which took place was an attack on a woman who was six months pregnant.

complaints

In another attack, a parent and two children were pelted with eggs and rubbish while leaving their home.

Men were twice as likely as women to be perpetrators of racism according to the report.

Online abuse is also on the rise according to the report, with 57 complaints lodged concerning media or social media abuse.

A number of anti-Semitic comments on Twitter were reported when former Justice Minister Alan Shatter made headlines last year.

Several racist social media accounts were also noted in the report, some of which called for protests against Roma people and others which were concerned with spreading false information about immigrants.

The Irish branch of the European Network Against Racism is calling for the Government to urgently draw up a workable action plan to combat racism.

Black Africans remained the most likely to be subject to racism while Asians, muslims and members of the travelling community also came up against prejudice attitudes.

hnews@herald.ie