Looking different. Feeling Irish

Lee: “I let it bounce off me, but I expect it for the rest of my life. I think racism will always be there. It frustrates me, and I get a bit aggressive in my game, although I don’t lash out or anything. But it never puts me off. It doesn’t affect me that much . . . But they should be ashamed of themselves.”

Hailuu: “There are a lot of different dynamics. Someone on the street will say: “Ah, you’re Bob Marley!” and I’ll say ‘You look like Paddy Casey.’ They don’t know what to say. In an upper-class setting racism is subtler.”

Daisy: “I was called a Paki once. It’s like they don’t even know how to be racist right.”

Lee: “I was called a black bastard. Then I was called a Chinese bastard a few moments afterwards.”

Daisy: “The amount of people who refer to me as African-American. I’m not an American. Nor coloured, nor ethnic. Somebody called me exotic once.”

Raf laughs. His Twitter page reads: “The most exotic thing to come out of Leitrim since boxty.”

Raf: “People say Ireland is getting more racist, but I don’t think you can brand a whole country as racist. I’d say there are some people in Ireland getting more racist.”

Hailuu: “I think it is a racist society. I get racism from strangers. It’s a common thing.”

Veena: “Maybe it’s based on where people live.”

Nally: “Maybe it depends on when you arrive here too. When I got here there were virtually no foreigners in Ireland.”

Daisy: “I think it’s worse in low socioeconomic areas, where there’s less education. In university there’s a lot less racism because there’s more discourse around it. The more you talk about it the more understanding there is.”

Hailuu: “It has different severity in different places.”

Is Ireland becoming more accepting?

Raf: “It always has been, I think. Look at Phil Lynott and Paul McGrath: there’s no question of them being outsiders. They’re quintessentially Irish.”

Hailuu: “At the same time any country would be proud to have those two. If you use that example, that Ireland accepts Phil Lynott and Paul McGrath, I’m not sure it proves Ireland isn’t racist.”

Diversity in media and politics

Raf: “My role models have nothing to do with skin colour, whether in music or sport or politics. I look at what the person does.”

Daisy: “The answer isn’t quotas. Quotas are stupid.”

Hailuu: “Quotas are necessary. A lot of cultural conflict is because kids don’t see themselves highlighted positively anywhere. And there’s nepotism instead of meritocracy. It might be evident that this kid is the best midfielder but because he’s not known as well as Tommo whose dad is the gear guy, or whose mum makes the sandwiches, he won’t be picked.”

Daisy: “Quotas won’t fix that though. Education will.”

Hailuu: “Education can’t win over nepotism.”

Daisy: “But if you just put people in positions of power for their skin colour or gender they’ll feel like tokens. Quotas devalue the idea you can achieve on your own.”

Raf: “If I was told I got a job because of my skin colour I’d go apesh*t. Skin colour has never been a barrier for me. Whatever I’ve achieved I’ve deserved and nothing more.”

Hailuu: “We take bad forms of discrimination day by day based on skin colour but this type isn’t okay with you?”

Daisy: “Discrimination isn’t any more okay because it’s positive.”

The benefits of multiculturalism

Hailuu: “Migrants don’t leach off countries. They help build countries. Difference is our biggest strength. We’re all the same, but we do things differently. Multiculturalism is the presence of different cultures. Interculturalism is better I think; [our discussion] involves different cultures talking together.”

Veena: “I suppose I do that. I try to inter-relate with every kind of person and every kind of religion. I’m Hindu, but I’ve gone to mosques with friends. I’ve gone to church with friends.”

Nally: “We come from different walks of life and have had experiences that other people haven’t had, and our experiences might be able to help somebody else.”

Lee: “That’s why I want to bring in a rule in about racism in the GAA. People from all over the world want to play it. We should be proud of that.”

Raf: “There’s always a danger that when you start talking about diversity that it ends up being a discussion of the negative side. There’s always a danger of focusing on difference and not enough on the things people have in common.”

The future?

Nally: “College is my biggest issue right now. I’m paying €7,000 a year for a four-year course because I’m not a citizen yet: the process is so slow. Even when I get my citizenship it won’t change the level of the fees, because there’s a glitch in the system. I’ve got this huge barrier in front of me and no tools to break it down.”

Raf: “I’d like to see Leitrim win an All-Ireland at some point. But that’s not going to happen soon.”

Daisy: “I’d like to see more discussion about what it means to be a person in general, about human relationships and figuring out how to be better as people. Identity is complex no matter who you are.”

Hailuu: “Without thinking about it, Irish society will take on a lot of colonial values. I genuinely believe that Irish people could be the coolest white people in the world because they don’t have all that colonial stuff. And I’m Irish as well, so I mean we could be the coolest white people in the world.”