The Garda Commissioner has said that the recent attacks on members of the Indian community are being driven by racism, criminality and the targeting of vulnerable people.
Drew Harris said the investigations are progressing and being supervised at the highest levels in An Garda Síochána but he was concerned at the apparent involvement of juveniles.
He was speaking at the graduation of over 150 new gardaí at the Garda College in Templemore, the last graduation he will preside over before his retirement at the end of next week.
154 gardaí from 26 different countries graduated from the garda college today.
The oldest is a 50-year-old League of Ireland referee from Co Tyrone, Michael Connolly, and the youngest is 19-year-old Hannah Egan who did her Leaving Cert two years ago.
Five who were due to graduate today were suspended and are being investigated for alleged bullying after another recruit was attacked and handcuffed in the showers.
The commissioner has said that high standards are demanded of trainee gardaí but described the incident as an aberration.
Mr Harris also said the garda organisation was growing and while there had been an extra 100 gardaí assigned to Dublin, more new gardaí are now being assigned to stations in the regions.
Of today's graduation class, 66 gardaí are being assigned to the south of the country, including 20 to Cork city.
The strength of An Garda Síochána now stands at 14,408 sworn gardaí.
Mr Harris is presiding over his last graduation as Garda Commissioner before Justin Kelly takes over on 1 September.
Mr Harris said it was the highlight of his policing career to be appointed Garda Commissioner.
He said An Garda Síochána had moved on in terms of equipment, performance and crime types, particularly in relation to domestic violence, sexual abuse and human trafficking.
He said he believes the organisation is very united as gardaí support each other and also gets a lot of political support.
He joined the gardaí at a time when it was accused of widespread corruption, however Drew Harris said that while corruption is found in all organisations, it is not systemic in An Garda Síochána.
"You find all human life and regrettably some individuals drift into criminality but I don't believe its systemic," he said.
The Minister for Justice wished the commissioner well and thanked him for his service.
Jim O'Callaghan accepted it would be difficult but he was "optimistic" of reaching the Government's target of 5,000 new gardaí over the next five years.
He said the departmental group will report to him at the start of September on proposals to increase the number of gardaí recruited, which may include a proposal to open a second college.
However, he said Templemore will always be the primary place for garda training and can accommodate 200 new recruits at each intake.
The minister rejected criticisms that Dublin was unsafe and underpoliced.
He said he met with the Indian community and expressed his concern about the recent attacks but pointed out that according to the crime figures, the number of assaults on people are down.
"A large capital city will always have incidents of criminal behaviour but my own view is Dublin is getting safer, I'm happy to walk around Dublin day or night and I would like the message to get out that Dublin is safe," he said.
