Waterford Gardaí looking into reported attack on child
Gardaí in Waterford are investigating an alleged attack on a child of Indian descent in the city.
Gardaí are investigating a reported attack on a child in Waterford City. The alleged assault is understood to have occurred on Monday evening, August 6.
According to the Irish Daily Star, the little girl was playing outside her home with her friends in Kilbarry when several boys, aged between 12 and 14, began shouting racist slurs at her, twisted her hair and punched her neck. One boy is said to have pushed a bicycle wheel into her body. The child, born and raised in Waterford, was told to "go back to India". The incident has deeply disturbed her, her friends and her family, who have been living and working in Ireland for nearly a decade.
The incident has provoked horrified reactions in both Ireland and India. The Times of India, the Irish Mirror and the Irish Daily Star have reported on the assault. The Times of India wrote: "The mother said her daughter cried in bed after the attack and is now too afraid to play outside. "We no longer feel safe here, even right in front of our own home. It doesn’t feel like she can play without fear," she said.
Expressing her anguish, the mother added: "I feel so sad for her. I could not protect her. I never expected such an incident would happen. I thought she would be safe here."
She later spotted the group of boys involved in the assault, who, she said, stared at her in a confrontational manner.
"I saw the gang afterward. They were staring at me, laughing. They know I am her parent. The boys were maybe 12 or 14, and they were still roaming around here," she told The Irish Mirror.
On Saturday, August 9, in The Irish Times, Stephen Connelly reported: "Weeks ago, leading Indian newspapers would rarely mention Ireland outside of their sports sections, detailing golf games, rugby matches and cricket fixtures, although with the occasional news story about Conor McGregor, often in regard to his civil rape trial.
"Now their reports on Ireland focus on a series of unprovoked attacks against people of south Asian origin living in Ireland. Their headlines refer to physical attacks on Indian men: a taxi driver, a data scientist, a sous chef, who, respectively, were left with 12 stitches, a broken cheekbone and in need of hospital treatment."
In the past month there have been a number of attacks against people of Indian descent. In Dublin, two men were attacked in separate incidents. One man, a taxi driver, was attacked by two young men with a bottle and told "go back to your own country".
In Tallaght, a tech worker was stripped and assaulted by a gang of men after being falsely accused of impropriety.
These racist attacks have prompted the Ireland India Council to write to the Minister of Justice Jim Callaghan and Tánaiste Simon Harris to raise awareness of the uptick in attacks. The Council have called for urgent action against these incidents by establishing a taskforce on hate crime and youth violence. They have requested legislation to hold parents responsible both “financially and criminally” for repeated violent actions of minors in their care.
According to The Irish Times, these incidents are damaging Ireland's reputation as a tourist destination and as a place to live and work in. The article read: "Many Indians in Ireland work for the healthcare service or in the tech sector. Nearly 18,500 Indian nurses and midwives are registered to work alongside their 54,000 Irish colleagues, figures provided by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland in 2024 show."
The Waterford News & Star spoke to Senthil Ramaswamy, founder of Waterford Tamil Sangam and a member in the Waterford New Communities Network, about the incidents. Senthil said that tensions "were high" and that there was a lack of communication with the figures in government over these attacks.
"This has been happening and we've had no reply."
Senthil is worried that these incidents could scare people away from visiting Ireland, whether to visit or to live and work, for fear of being targeted.
The Embassy of India recently issued a statement warning people of Indian descent to take "reasonable precautions for their personal safety" and to "avoid deserted areas, especially in odd hours".
