Mary O'Rourke's controversial comment evokes a mixed response from black people living here. Róisín Inglereports
On Moore Street in Dublin, where members of various ethnic communities have set up hairdressers, phone card shops and grocery stores, there were mixed views on Mary O'Rourke's controversial remark this week.
During her acceptance speech at the Fianna Fáil selection convention in Mullingar, Co Westmeath the former TD and current leader of the Seanad praised her volunteers for having worked "like blacks" during her successful campaign. Despite audible gasps in the hall and the criticism that followed, O'Rourke stood her ground, calling the furore "political correctness gone wrong".
While not everyone had heard her make the remark, some black people who heard the comment seemed more irritated by the Fianna Fáil politician's response and the fact that she hadn't apologised, than by the phrase itself. For others the content of the remark was a drop in the ocean compared with what black people deal with every day in a country still coming to terms with its new, darker-skinned neighbours.
It was "short-sighted" and "derogatory", said Gift, a Nigerian man in his 30s. "I came here a year ago and I was surprised at how unenlightened some Irish are about these things. You get called 'nigger' and you just ignore it. You would hope that people in high positions would be more responsible, but then I do understand that having black people is a relatively new thing in Ireland," he said.
In a grocery shop nearby, John, a father of two from South Africa, said he took the comment as a compliment. "Everyone knows black people do work very hard, that is a fact. I see it all the time where black people are working much harder than white people. We come here to create a life from scratch and we have to work hard. I don't know how many Irish people could go to South Africa and start from nothing."
Nigerian Gori Kadiri does stock control in a clothing store in Dublin. "To be honest with you I laughed when I heard; it just came out wrong and I felt sorry for the poor lady because I knew the media would jump on it," he says. "I use the phrase every day; I use it in my job to tell people to get back to work. If the media want to jump on things there are better examples of racism to use."
He mentions one incident where a judge in Co Longford said "coloured people" might have to be prevented from going into shopping centres, after two black people were convicted of shoplifting, and another where a bus driver levelled racist abuse at one of his passengers. "I went to an interview once and a woman there said she couldn't understand my English. Everyone else in the room could understand me and that really hurt because I knew she was being racist. The bullshit comments you hear on the street every day don't affect me, it's institutionalised racism that is the worst kind. Like when you get called for an interview and then are told before you even get there that the job is gone."
"ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING AND despicable" was how Fred Nwajei, a Nigerian who works in security, described O'Rourke's comment. How did it make him feel? "Downgraded and segregated. I just wouldn't expect it from a high-profile woman like that.
"It's disappointing. She should come out and apologise. You expect it on the street. On the bus where people won't sit beside you because you are black. But not from someone like her. She should be raising awareness. She should be making change happen."
Temitope Adyemi (34), a web designer from Nigeria, also felt the comment was offensive. "It's a sensitive statement," he said. "It implies the black man works like a slave. It is not a compliment. Black people in Ireland work in all sorts of different positions; it's unfair to categorise us." His own situation, where he is struggling to find work as a web designer despite gaining all his qualifications in Ireland, is a source of concern. "I thought after I got trained properly it would be better, but it seems many companies are not confident about giving work to foreigners. I have gone into companies and said I will just make the coffee to gain some experience but they won't even trust me to do that."
Musician Larry O'Neill - he adopted the name more than 15 years ago when performing in his native Nigeria - described O'Rourke's comment as "a slip of the tongue. I would say it was a mistake, and she should admit that it was a mistake instead of highlighting the fact that she had done work with the immigrant community as if that excuses her," he says.
O'Neill is now an Irish citizen, but says having an Irish passport does not mean he is fully accepted. "Coming back from travelling they hold onto you, they take your passport and question your citizenship. There is no apology when they eventually let you go," he says. "I love Ireland. I love the culture. What she said is not sending a good message."
He was concerned, he said, for the future if something is not done at Government level to promote more inclusivity. "I don't want this country to become like England, where black and white are segregated. It's quite mixed at the moment but we have to take care and make the public aware that as much as there are black people coming here with problems, there are people coming to help the country as well."