The attack that left a Chinese national dead in Dublin is likely to have been a racist one, according to the National Consultative Committee on Racism (NCCR).
Gardaí, however, say it is too early to say if the attack was racially motivated.
The 29-year-old was attacked, along with two friends, by a group of youths on Monday night. He was put on a life-support machine and died last night.
It is understood the men were on their way home from a party in Drumcondra when the incident took place.
They were confronted by a group of Irish youths who hurled racial abuse before a scuffle broke out, sources said. The victim, whose identity is unknown, was hit repeatedly on the head with an iron bar and was admitted to hospital where he died last night.
Two men were arrested and later released.
"The indications are this was a racist attack and we have to assume so until it is proven otherwise," Mr Philip Watt, NCCR director said.
"In our view, this could be the first death to occur from this type of incident. However, we can't say definitively because there is no system in place at present in terms of categorising racist assaults," said Mr Watt.
A Garda spokesperson told ireland.comthe incident is not yet being considered to be a racist one.
"We’re investigating a fatal assault on a foreign national but we’re not saying it was racially motivated," the spokesperson said.
"The full circumstances of the case are being investigated", the spokesperson added.
Mr Watt said that he was very concerned at Ireland's rising levels of racist violence and urged the gardaí to redouble their efforts to ensure minority groups in Ireland were protected.
He also called for speedy introduction of a planned monitoring system for racist attacks.
