A fifth of all racist abuse reported last year occurred on public transport, while almost a third occurred while the victim was at work.

Latest figures on reports of racism to the Immigrant Council show 240 racist incidents were reported in 2015, up from 217 in 2014.

Of these, 37 reports involved physical violence, 99 instances involved verbal harassment and 68 were incidents of discrimination.

Twenty-one instances of property damage and racist graffiti were reported with 13 cases of written harassment also recorded.

There were 23 incidents of racism reported that took place in an educational institution.

The data shows that 19 incidents occurred on the street.

Four out of ten victims identified were from the Muslim community, while a third identified themselves as African.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland, the National Transport Authority and nationwide public transport providers have launched a stop racism campaign encouraging people to report racism when they witness it.

Last week, the European Network Against Racism Ireland said that the highest-ever number of racist assaults was reported in the second half of last year.

The network recorded 165 incidents in the second half of 2015 and ENAR Ireland director Shane O'Curry said that racism is a fact of everyday life for many people.

Author of the report Dr Lucy Michael of Ulster University described the number of assaults in this period as "deplorable".