In recent months, Ireland has experienced a startling increase in the number of attacks perpetrated against Indian residents. Several violent attacks against Indians have made headlines in major Irish and Indian newspapers such as The Times of India. Several Trinity students from India spoke to The University Times about their experiences.
Khare, a 21-year-old law student, currently studying in Dublin, is cautious about returning to college this September. He says that “if it can happen to them, it can happen to anyone”.
Khare says that his parents are very scared of what is currently going on in Ireland. He states that his “experience of Ireland will always be positive,” due to the Irish friends he has made and because of the opportunities that Dublin has given him. Khare also believes that “the environment right now is heated” because of certain political factions who are “responsible for the rise of hate” through their rhetoric. He hopes that this environment will cool down soon, but for now he will be more wary about walking around Dublin.
A 21-year-old engineering student at Trinity, who has chosen to remain anonymous, has “mixed feelings” about returning to Dublin. He recalls one incident in first year where he himself was the victim of a racist attack:
“I was heading back home to Dominick Street, and I got some takeaway, listening to music, minding my own business, doing my own thing and a bunch of teenagers started yelling at me, and started throwing eggs at me, They started yelling racial slurs at me and following me…I wasn’t able to sleep until around 6am.”
He wrote to college in an effort to change his accommodation to an area in which he could feel safer, but to no avail.
Coverage on the overall epidemic of attacks began after an attack in Tallaght on July 19th, when an Indian man who had arrived in Ireland only three weeks prior was left bleeding on a street, with wounds on his legs and face. The man was stripped of his trousers and underwear and left on the road. A video shared of the injured man went viral on social media and sparked extensive conversations on the prevalence of racism against South Asians in Ireland. The Gardaí are currently investigating several teenagers involved in the attack.
In the following two weeks, three more racist attacks occurred against Indians in Ireland. Dr. Santosh Yadav was attacked by a group of teenagers near his apartment in Clondalkin which left him with a fractured cheekbone.
Sonali Flynn, an Indian woman who has lived in Ireland for 26 years, was assaulted in Tralee on July 27th while celebrating the Kerry victory in the All Ireland football final. This attack has left Sonali “so traumatised” that she feels very “worried for the safety of her children” in Tralee, Sonali said on Kerry FM.
Furthermore, an investigation is underway into an attack on a six year old Indian girl committed by a group of teenage boys which took place in Waterford city at the end of July. The girl and her bicycle were attacked by the boys who pulled her hair and punched her in the back of the head. According to The Journal, a bicycle was reportedly also used to hit her “genital area”.
Beyond these reported crimes, RTÉ’s liveline has seen an increase in Indian callers who are reporting that they feel less and less welcome in modern Ireland.
The president has condemned these attacks saying that “they diminish all of us”, and the Indian Council of Ireland has even had to scale back the India day festival in Dublin amid increasing safety concerns.
These attacks correlate with a rise in misinformation and racism against the immigrant community of Ireland on social media. Anti-immigration accounts gain large followings on apps like Instagram and X,, where videos of attacks on immigrants are boosted through the algorithm and often include “hateful narratives” according to the Hope and Courage Collective.
The frequency of these racist attacks have certainly been a wake-up call for Ireland and its racism problem. A silent protest was held outside the Department of Justice on the 25th of July to call attention to these issues.
— CORRECTION August 28th, 2025, 18:44 —
Earlier coverage of the reported attack on the six-year-old Indian girl in Waterford said she had bicycle parts inserted into her. We have updated the article to reflect that she was struck by a bicycle. This change more accurately reflects the information available.
