Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for choosing this topic. I expected to see the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, as he is the relevant Minister.

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Quiet please, in the Gallery.

Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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I raise this issue as I believe urgent steps must be taken by the Minister - hopefully he will return to the Chamber soon - and this Government to tackle the increasing problem of racially-provoked attacks on foreign national members of our community. These racist incidents cover the entire spectrum including physical, verbal and psychological attacks. As Irish society becomes more diverse, our primary agenda as parliamentarians in tackling the problem of racially provoked attacks should be to make Irish society more inclusive, tolerant and open to accepting and understanding our new friends and neighbours who have come to Ireland from other countries.

While attacks on members of our new communities cannot be deemed to be racist in all cases, there is substantial evidence to suggest that racism is on the increase in Ireland. A very recent and tragic example was the attack on and subsequent death of Moses Ayanwole, a Nigerian taxi-driver. This attack has created great fear in the African community. I spoke to the leaders of the African community in Ireland at a press conference in Buswells Hotel and their fear is palpable. I refer also to the horrendous attack on Alexandra Trotsenko, an artist whose three fingers were severed in a burglary attack on her home. There has been an allegation of a gang rape of a young African girl. I also wish to highlight the sad and tragic experience in my constituency of Dublin South-Central when two Polish men were savagely beaten and killed with a screwdriver. I commend the work of the integration centre, the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Show Racism the Red Card and Dublin City Council's office for integration. These bodies do tremendous work in attempting to counteract racism in Irish society on very limited budgets and with stretched resources. Not enough is being done. I ask the Department of Justice and Equality and specifically the office for the promotion of migrant integration to work closely with these bodies to have a sustained and targeted campaign to tackle racism in all its forms in our society.

The Minister of State will be aware it is Government and local government policy that Ireland and Dublin, in particular, are internationally marketed as a country and city open for business. Dublin is marketed as an open, friendly, tolerant, diverse and welcoming city. Students from countries as diverse as China and Oman have been invited to come to Ireland to study and our universities are encouraged to look wide and far for international students. The Department of Health has recruited people from India and Pakistan to fill the skills shortage in the health service. We must take urgent action to prevent the spread of racism. If racism, and in particular racially-motivated attacks, continue to occur, these will have a detrimental impact on the economic progress of our society. The reputational damage for Ireland or Dublin will be massive if racism takes a foothold. It is essential that we are seen as an attractive place for inward investment and therefore racism must be tackled. Foreign multinational companies will not invest in a country that is open to racism. I conclude on that point but I hope to deal with some additional points after the Minister of State has spoken.

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will have the opportunity for a supplementary question.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I compliment the Deputy on his ongoing commitment to this issue and he has spoken out against racism over a long period.

Recent attacks on foreign national members of the community are the subject of ongoing Garda investigations and therefore I cannot comment on these cases nor on whether any racist motivation was involved. Any such attack must be strongly condemned and I urge anyone with any information to assist the Garda Síochána in its investigations.

Ireland has strong legislation prohibiting incitement to racial hatred along with robust equality legislation supported by an institutional infrastructure to promote equality and to provide redress where discrimination, including discrimination on grounds of race, occurs. There are currently a number of official mechanisms in place to record complaints of both racist crime and racial discrimination. All crime statistics, including statistics on reports of racially-motivated crime, are collated by the Central Statistics Office, using the data elicited from the Pulse system of An Garda Síochána. Information on reported criminal racist incidents from 2006 onwards is publicly available on the website of the office for the promotion of migrant integration and is broken down into ten different categories of crimes. The Central Statistics Office advises me that a further breakdown of the data in relation to, for example, gender and geographic location, is not made publicly available as this could lead to the identification of individual cases. The trends in these statistics are monitored by the office for the promotion of migrant integration and are updated on a regular basis.

There is no evidence of a significant upward trend in reported incidences of racist crime. In 2009, the total number of reported racist crimes was 128. In 2010, the total number of reported racist crimes was 122. The total number of reported racist crimes for the first three quarters of 2011 was 112. There is, however, no room for complacency and the Government is committed to combating and challenging any and all manifestations of racism. Depending on the nature of the racist incident, members of the public can report to a number of other organisations besides An Garda Síochána, including the Equality Authority, the Equality Tribunal, which deals with complaints of discrimination in the provision of goods and services and in employment, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, for complaints against members of the force, the Office of the Press Ombudsman, the crime victims helpline and the Irish Internet hotline. Contact information about the various organisations and the avenues available to the public, in addition to a range of statistics on reported incidents, are available on the website of the office for the promotion of migrant integration and also the organisations which the Deputy has identified and which have played a significant part in ensuring that people who come here from abroad are helped to integrate.

Ireland was one of the first states in the EU and, indeed, in the world, to develop a national action plan against racism. The plan was launched in 2005 and it was conceived as a four-year programme to run until the end of 2008. It was designed to provide strategic direction towards developing a more intercultural and inclusive society in Ireland and was largely integration driven. Under the plan, support was provided towards the development of a number of national and local strategies to promote greater integration in our workplaces, in An Garda Síochána, in the health service, in our education system, in the arts and sports sectors and within our local authorities.

The Deputy outlined all these areas in his contribution. The remainder of the reply will be available to the Deputy.

Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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I thought the Minister, Deputy Shatter, would be dealing with this topic and I do not wish to embarrass him in his absence. If he had been present I would have said to him that this gentleman from Naas, Councillor Scully, has done irreparable harm to race relations particularly in the Kildare area. He has achieved notoriety by his statements. I suggest to our coalition partners that the leadership of Fine Gael is very slow in properly reprimanding that gentleman who has undermined completely the work of people engaged in promoting integration policies. He should have been expelled from the Fine Gael Party the day he did that radio interview.

In the past, there was a Minister of State who worked closely with the Dublin City Council office for integration in targeting racism and bringing about integration. There is a bit of a disjoint and I appeal to the Government to make sufficient funding available, particularly to the office for integration in Dublin so it can work more positively in addressing the integration issue and combatting racism.

I applaud Dublin City Council. I remind Deputies that Dublin has been ranked fourth of 29 cities by the Council of Europe on the basis of integrationist policies. We must redouble our efforts to create the type of society on which our international economic policy is built, namely, one which is open to inward capital and labour. We must also support integrationist policies to ensure people go out of their way to come here to live and work.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I again thank the Deputy. It is particularly important that elected representatives are careful in the language they use, not only on race but across a range of issues. Local authorities must drive policy on these issues and ensure that people with a disability or mental health issue and those from different cultures, races and nationalities live in comfort and security in our communities. I commend Cork City Council on its forum and Dublin City Council on ensuring the capital is close to the top of the league in terms of openness to outsiders.