The number of racist assaults in Ireland is at its highest ever rate.

A new report has found there were more racist attacks reported in Ireland in the second half of last year.

The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) iReport for Ireland recorded 165 incidents, with 37 serious offences reported.

Assault occurred in 25 reports and there were 41 cases of repeated harassment and three cases of threat.

Two cases concerned sexual harassment and one concerned rape.

The report also said racist language was used in 30 of these and 23 of these were committed by strangers.

Shane O’Curry, Director of ENAR Ireland said ” It is appalling that we find ourselves yet again confirming in statistics what Africans, Travellers, Roma, Muslims, Migrants and Minority Irish already know; that racism is a fact of everyday life.

“The number of serious offences and hate crimes is alarmingly high.

“Our data shows that the likelihood of very serious hate crimes is consistently high, our members understand that we need hate crime legislation urgently. The Government must act now before it’s too late.”