Dublin rose says racism is from people on 'hate train'

Dublin Rose Suad Mooge has said she is "shocked but not surprised" at comments on social media by people saying she "is not Irish".

Suad won the Dublin Rose title last week and will represent the capital at the Rose of Tralee in Co Kerry in August.

Sligo born Suad said that as a person of colour "it's part of the experience of growing up" in Ireland.

Speaking to RTÉ's Liveline, she said: "It's just been a lot of 'you're not Irish', I think basically that's kinda been the general consensus on the socials.

"You know a lot of mentions about skin tone, religion and a lot of people saying 'you know, she had no Irish heritage, she was not born here' and yeah, just along those lines."

Suad said the negative comments about her online haven't really phased her much as she has heard it before. However, she said she was surprised at the "volume of hate".

"It has been constant ever since being posted. It was ok, quiet for the first day and then it just went 'boom', mad overnight."

Asked if she feels reluctant to put herself forward for things due to such negativity online, she said: "No, absolutely not, never.

"If anything I actually take pride in going forward for things like this. Considering the reaction that I've received, change is needed and I'm just grateful to be given the opportunity to be at the forefront of this and to represent other communities.

"And to show girls who kinda see themselves in me that 'you can go for this, this is open to you and there is no reason why not, you can go for this'."

Suad said those who post negative comments are "running on a hate train", they haven't read her bio as it clearly states she was born in Sligo. But, instead she said those people are making presumptions and saying she was born in another country.

She said those making such comments "are a very small group of people, who are just very loud" but there has also been "a lot of positive feedback".

"This does not represent Ireland, this does not represent people's opinions. It's just a very small, loud group of people with a lot of time on their hands and just putting a lot of hate out there.

"As long as I know myself that I'm Irish, I'm very confident and secure in that fact," she said.