238 reports of hate crime and hate incidents were handled by Gardaí in the first half of this year.
People can now make reports of hate crime on the Garda website, which will be examined by dedicated members of the force.
Assistant Commissioner Paula Hillman says many people are suffering hate crimes in silence:
"It is recognised internationally that hate crime is an underreported crime. We hear various reasons for it being under-reported. Sometimes it's in relation to not knowing how to report it, not wanting to go to a police station or Garda station, or maybe from the country that they came from, that they did not have a community focused police service like we have in Ireland and they do not want to to engage with the police."
