Zak Moradi,
Leitrim Hurler

I think we just need more workshopping skills. Primary schools, secondary schools. Ireland’s gone very multicultural, so we’d always have to make sure that the Black lads don’t all sit beside each other or the brown lads. Make sure you’re mixing them with the white lads. Kids need to learn about other cultures. Ninety-nine percent of the things are positive with sports, with GAA.

I would’ve got probably racist remarks once or twice when I was younger, but I forget it all. Obviously people and kids will say anything at that age. Sometimes it’s what their parents say at home, or what they see on social media. But 99% of the stuff within the GAA is good, and 99% of the people in this country are good people. It’s that 1% that lets the rest down.

Ireland is changing, and it’s changing very quick. Maybe companies need to do more – have an annual multicultural day for people to learn about other nationalities. People sharing their own experience and culture with each other is similar to primary school workshopping. A lot more is done in America and Britain than would be done in Ireland.

Obviously, the more people from different nationalities who get onto TV and radio and into parliament the better.

Maybe the country needs to put more money into sport – sport plays a big part. You can see the Irish soccer team is changing, the GAA is changing year by year. That can bring people together a lot more.

Sometimes when people are angry, when people have no money, they’re trying to find an easy excuse, blaming immigrants. That’s what I’ve always noticed.

This contribution featured in Part 1 of 100 Voices: #AllAgainstRacism. Read Part 2 in the current issue of Hot Press:

Special thanks to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission for their support in this project.