Hate crimes are being reported to gardaí at a rate of almost one every day, according to the Central Statistics Office.

The figures show that a majority of racist incidents were motivated because of someone's ethnic background or religion.

A total of 151 aggravated incidents were recorded by gardaí in the first six months of this year. That is nearly double the numbers previously logged.

Of them, 98 were because of someone's ethnic background or religion.

On alleged offences linked to ageism and abuse of people with disabilities, the CSO said there were 27 from January to June, compared to 15 for the whole of last year.

In relation to incidents said to be motivated by gender, transphobia or homophobia, there were 26 in the first six months of this year compared to 25 for the whole of last year.

Hate crime is not a specific offence under Irish law but it can be taken into account in a trial.