Once a case has been concluded, migrant witnesses who gardaí suspect do not have the right to live or work in Ireland will be referred to GNIB for an investigation, The Irish Times revealed on Saturday.

Immigration lawyer Wendy Lyon, partner at Dublin firm Abbey Law, told Irish Legal News that this “comes up with alarming regularity”.

She said: “Migrant sex workers in particular are frequently victimised and are afraid to report offences because of the risk that they will be reported due to their immigration status. I have no doubt that the rate of hate crimes is also significantly higher than we are aware of.

“This further shows the need to take responsibility for immigration matters completely out of the hands of the gardaí as it is simply impossible for the same institution to both protect and pursue migrant victims of crime.”