The Criminal Justice Hate Offences Act 2024 was created to protect people against all forms of discrimination.
Equality campaigners say last year's hate crime legislation isn't effective enough and was a missed opportunity.
It comes as a report by The Journal Investigates found 39 per cent of hate crimes reported to Gardai last year involved discrimination based on race.
The Criminal Justice Hate Offences Act 2024 was created to protect people against all forms of discrimination.
However, activists say the final version omitted hate speech provisions that had initially been proposed.
Patricia Devlin from The Journal Investigates says stronger laws may be needed.
Separately, Kfm recently reported how there was a surge in the number of people seeking help from the Crime Victim's Helpline (CVH) last year.
Kildare was one of the most engaged counties, accounting for 4% of helpline contacts - just shy of its 5% population share.
Most other counties registered 1-3% of total contacts; only Dublin (39%), Cork (9%), and Galway (5%) surpassed Kildare.
Assaults were the reason behind most of the calls made to the Crime Victims Helpline in the 12 months to last December.
Hate crime contacts to the helpline rose at an “alarming” rate last year, according to the CVH.
The majority (44) involved reports of racist abuse.
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