Ireland: They used the F word… they said ‘Dirty Indian, go back to India.’ These were the gut-wrenching words of a mother recalling the moment her six-year-old daughter came running home in tears, after being brutally attacked by a group of older boys in Waterford, Ireland. The child, born and raised in Ireland, was outside playing near her home when she was surrounded, verbally abused with racial slurs, punched in the face and neck, and assaulted in her private parts with a bicycle — all while being told she didn’t belong.
The girl’s mother, an Indian-origin nurse who has lived and worked in Ireland for eight years and recently gained citizenship, said she had only stepped inside for a moment to feed her 10-month-old son. In that short window, her daughter was left traumatised by what is now being called the first documented racist attack on an Indian-origin child in Ireland.
“She couldn’t even talk. She was so scared. I’ve never seen her like that,” the mother told The Irish Mirror, her voice breaking with disbelief and pain. “I thought she would be safe here.”
The attack — reportedly carried out by several boys aged between 12 and 14, along with a young girl — has sent shockwaves through the Indian community in Ireland. The child was not just physically harmed, but humiliated and degraded with hate-fuelled words no child should ever hear.
This horrifying incident comes just days after the same child was allegedly harassed by a different group, again with apparent racial motives. And it follows two violent assaults on Indian men in Dublin, incidents that have collectively shaken the sense of safety for many in the diaspora.
The family had moved into their Waterford home only in January. “Everything was going well until that evening,” the mother said, still trying to process the cruelty her daughter endured. “I let her out for a few seconds. I could see her. They were just playing. I never imagined this could happen right outside my door.”
The Indian Embassy in Ireland has issued an advisory urging citizens to remain alert.
