Mother and children forced out of home by racist attacks

Gardaí are investigating a series of racist incidents that have forced a mother and her children out of their home.

Two men vandalised the house in Clondalkin, Dublin, last week by spray painting the living-room window with the words “Blacks Out” in the early hours of last Thursday.

Before that incident, the tyres on the family’s car had been slashed twice. They were slashed a third time within 48 hours of the racist graffiti appearing.

The woman has been receiving rent supplement and living in the private rented sector, meaning she is not immediately entitled to a local authority house.

She first travelled to Donegal to assure her children were safe and has since returned to Dublin to stay with friends. The woman, whose Irish-born son and daughter are aged eight and 12, has said she will not return to the property.

Garda sources said the woman at the centre of the abuse had reported the matter to local officers in Clondalkin and that a criminal inquiry was under way.

South Dublin County Council is also examining the situation of the woman and her children.