“I FEAR FOR my safety and want to move in the near future.”

This is the experience of Johanna, who is 28 and lives in Dublin, but who said she has not felt welcome in the city since the 2023 riots.

Her experience was shared by many people who told The Journal about their struggles as an an ethnic minority living in Ireland.

In 2023, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission found that more than one in four people who are not of white, Irish ethnicity experienced racism in the previous 12 months.

Our readers say that an increase in protests against immigration and asylum seeker accommodation, and their experiences of racism, have left them feeling terrified and eager to leave.

‘Get out of our fucking country’

Johanna said: “I feel like I constantly go around town with an undercurrent of strong anxiety and paranoia, watching my back, bracing for the worst.”

This month. while walking down O’Connell Street in Dublin with her boyfriend, two men passing muttered “get out of our fucking country”.

Rúairí, 42, who has lived between Dublin and Kildare for 21 years, said his experience as a person of colour in Ireland has completely changed since 2023.

He said he noticed the change when people began talking about “unvetted men of military age” - a term used by anti-immigrant groups to suggest that asylum seekers are dangerous and untrustworthy because they haven’t had background checks before arriving in Ireland.

“Women and their teenage daughters began to side-eye me on Dublin streets,” he said.

“A local man browsing in a shop that I sometimes work in told me that I was ‘lucky to be working here’. A man sat down next to me on the bus and began to murmur at me that this was his country, and tried to provoke me to attack him. He followed me around the bus murmuring threats in my ear.”

Rúairí also said that while having a drink in a bar in Mayo with a friend recently, someone played The Lion Sleeps Tonight on the stereo and men at the bar shouted slurs and laughed.

He says that some of his friends have begun mentioning the Great Replacement conspiracy theory that suggests is an agenda to replace the “indigenous” population of Ireland with people of colour.

‘He began screaming racial slurs’

A GP from Trinidad and Tobago, who wants to remain anonymous, said that he and his wife, who is also a GP, have lived in Ireland since their early twenties; they are Irish citizens, but he says the couple are now considering leaving Ireland.

The man said the couple were recently racially abused by their neighbours when they asked them to lower the volume of music after 1am on a Sunday.

“My wife knocked on their door to politely request quiet,” the man said.

“The male occupant stormed out. With his partner standing between him and my wife, he began screaming vile racial slurs at her, including ‘Indian c**ts’ and ‘P**i sluts’.

“He accused us of getting our apartment for free and living off the State. His wife eventually pulled him back inside, but he continued shouting slurs through the walls while the music played on.”

Another reader is marking 11 years living in Ireland, and now has citizenship – but he also wonders whether moving here was the right decision.

He said: “I am getting married and my wife is moving back with me, and I am truly worried about how she will adapt to this. It really sucks that this is a concern now, and a few years ago, this wasn’t a problem.”

“The recent violent acts in Dublin have been extremely disturbing and distressing. Now this is my home, and to feel that I don’t belong here is heartbreaking.

‘I was told to fuck off to my country’

Some readers say they are targeted with emotional and physical abuse every day.

One reader said he has been shot with a pellet gun, egged, had racial slurs shouted at him and had items thrown at him. 

Another reader, who lives in Dublin, said he has been attacked by groups of teenagers several times. Most recently, he said a group of teens directed racial slurs at himself and his wife, and punched him.

He said: “My wife fears even stepping out of the house sometimes”

Another reader, Taz, said the racism he experienced at work and where he lives in Dublin made him feel “scared and powerless”.

“I was told to fuck off to my country by an elderly man,” he said.

He said he does not feel supported by Irish officials: “ I feel they are not doing anything. I’ve never felt like they can help me at all.”

Another reader who lives in Dublin said he is constantly harassed by groups of teenagers, something he feels the authorities do not take seriously.

“My wife is asthmatic and she is scared to step out now. If she sees a bunch of teens, she comes back home. Kids using electric scooters at high speed throwing bottles and stones on people of colour is frustrating”, he said.

He said he has been spat at, had his belongings stolen and been verbally abused.

On public transport, a man stood on his foot and wouldn’t let him move; the man told him he had a problem with the reader’s “chocolate face”.

He said: “This is completely unacceptable, we are not sitting here illegally, we are paying hefty bills and taxes for the welfare of our community! What else can we do? These incidents are just making us think, is this a place where we should live or should we pack our bags and go back?”

‘I no longer smile’

A reader who wants to remain anonymous said they came to Ireland as they wanted to experience life in a high trust society. Instead, they feel terrified to leave their home.

They said they face racism every day, something they feel the authorities do not take seriously.

“Even though we bought a house without any help from the Irish government, we have to hear from every Irish person about how they paid for our house,” they said.

Others who live in Ireland said they feel “helpless, scared and frustrated”.

A reader who lives in the midlands said that every day before leaving his home, he prepares himself to expect the worst from Irish people.

“I no longer smile nor am I friendly, I am always on the edge ready to defend myself, this has affected my mental health and I no longer want to live in this hostile unfriendly country,” he said.

A Dublin based reader said the racism he has faced here has made him feel as fearful as he did before fleeing his home country.

“I was in the Liffey Valley [shopping centre] before, and some Irish man asked why I came to this country and told me to go home. I told him I just want a better life, you know?” he said.

“I feel afraid sometimes when reading news about the protests and things. I feel no place is safe for me,” he added.

Another reader, who lives in Galway, said that after a decade in Ireland he has understandably become attached to his life here, something he doesn’t think people understand when they tell him to ‘go back to your country’.

“It’s not as easy as people say,” he added.

If you have been the victim of racism or witnessed an incident of racism, the Irish Network Against Racism have a list of reporting centres you can reach out to: https://inar.ie/ireport-reporting-centres/

You can also register the incident at the iReport, to help to monitor racism in Ireland via ireport.ie.

If you have experienced a hate crime, you can report it directly to gardaí, either at your local Garda station or online.

If you feel immediately threatened or think you’re in danger, call 999/112.