'Ever more racism and discrimination' - New report finds racism on the rise in Ireland

A new report released today has highlighted a rise in racism directed at black people in Ireland.

'Being Black in the EU' was carried out by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights and examined experiences of nearly 7,000 people of African descent living in 13 different countries all over the EU.

The second report of its kind, with the first carried out in 2016, found that people of African descent "face ever more racism and discrimination" in the EU, including a rise in the last five years in Ireland.

Over 500 individuals were surveyed in Ireland with more than half (55%) saying they experienced racial discrimination, an increase from 48% 5 years ago.

Although they was a decrease in the level of harassment since the first report, the level of harassment in Ireland is higher than the overall level in the 13 EU countries surveyed.

6% of respondents said they had experienced a racist attack, however 64% said they worried about becoming a victim of such an attack, making it far higher than the average across the countries surveyed (35%).

39% of parents that responded said their children experienced threatening and offensive comments while at school in the year previous and 23% said their children had been physically attacked, which the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights said these were the highest rates for bullying at schools among the countries surveyed.

Racial profiling was also examined in the report with 39% of people saying they perceived their last police stop was due to racial profiling.

Racial discrimination experienced by black people in Ireland with regards to employment, housing and education was higher than the average across the other EU countries.

The report also found that 41% of black people in Ireland live in overcrowded housing compared to 4% of Irish people and only 10% of black people own a property here compared to 70%.

Read the full findings of the report here.