Gardai have been instructed to begin recording race crimes using the PULSE computer system.
An internal directive has been circulated to all stations telling members of the force to document whether any crime or incident has been seen as racially motivated.
While the recording system will allow gardaí to identify and analyse patterns of racist behaviour, there is no provision in the law for racially aggravated offences attracting heavier penalties.
A racial incident has been defined by gardaí as one which is perceived to be racially motivated by the victim, a member of the Garda, a witness or someone acting on behalf of the victim.
This definition was sanctioned some 16 months ago and is similar to that adopted in the UK in the wake of a high-profile inquiry into the 1993 murder of a black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, by a white gang in London.
Under the new recording system, gardaí will fill in a field in a computer-generated crime file stating whether the incident or crime was racially motivated.
A Garda spokesman said the internal directive was issued in October to all members of the force. Officers from the Garda's Racial and Intercultural Office plan to produce first-quarter statistics on racially motivated incidents at the end of this month.
The UK police have recorded racial motivation in incidents since 1988, but adopted a new definition in 1999 following the inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence.
Home Office figures show that the number of incidents, including threats, considered by the victim to be racially motivated had dropped 27 per cent between 1995 and 1999, from 382,000 to 280,000.
Since 1998, racially aggravated offences such as assault, criminal damage and harassment have attracted significantly heavier penalties in the UK. In the Republic, however, there are no separate offences for crimes which are racially motivated.
Amnesty International in Ireland has called for heavier penalties for race crimes. The Garda last year appointed liaison officers in all 26 divisions to work with ethnic minorities.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has said a review of a much-criticised law prohibiting incitement to hatred is ongoing more than two years after it was ordered.
A Department spokeswoman said yesterday the internal review must await a decision on a common framework for European Union member-states on criminal laws regarding racist and xenophobic offences. She said the decision was close to being finalised.
The shortcomings of the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989, were highlighted at a weekend conference on racism organised by the Green Party.