Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
“DIRTY IRISH BASTARDS”. It was just over two decades ago that Brian Kennedy was listening to this abuse on the other end of a phone line at the Irish World Heritage Centre in Manchester. The threats and the slurs have stuck in his memory.
The hostile phone calls followed an IRA bombing in June 1996 that injured more than 200 people and destroyed a large chunk of the city.
Although the Irish in Manchester have come a long way since then, they feel a resonance with the Muslim community this week following the bombing at the Manchester Arena.
They know what it is like to lower their voices in public to hide an accent. They know what it is like to suddenly feel tension in a place they call home.
They know being Muslim does not automatically mean you are a terrorist, just like being Irish did not mean they supported the devastation caused by the IRA more than 20 years ago.
“It was mainly telephone calls and idle threats – we took them as idle threats,” Kennedy, who spent his early childhood in rural Co Mayo, told TheJournal.ie. “The usual, ‘dirty Irish bastards’ or ‘you’re coming down here to blow the place up’, sometimes people just drunk down the other end of the line. We never got anyone physically coming into the centre to create trouble as such.
“It was more the tension that it created within the community, tensions were heightened. And there were the silly campaigns in the Sun newspaper telling people, ‘Don’t buy Kerrygold butter’, ‘Don’t buy Irish products’,” he added.
The Asian community are no different now, they are no doubt waiting for this backlash that will come.
Another Mayo man Michael Ford, who moved to Manchester in 1961, said terrorism activities “made it very difficult for the Irish community in Britain”.
“And even moreso in other cities like Birmingham and London, because obviously there were different bombings happening there and people were killed in those,” he said.
“To be fair, Manchester wasn’t as bad as other parts of the country. Like, I’d been in other parts where they had the signs up saying ‘No blacks, no Irish, no dogs’. But I never saw that in Manchester.”
Rose Morris, originally from Co Tyrone, moved to Manchester in 1970. She too said she can relate to how members of the Muslim community are feeling:
I was in a waiting room in a doctor’s surgery and someone said, ‘it looks like it’s going to rain’ and I said, ‘yeah it was just starting when I came in’. Then somebody said, ‘did you hear about that bombing?’ and I think it was the Irish accent that brought that out of them. So in those times, I wouldn’t even speak to the woman on the till in Tesco, I’d just do all my transactions in silence.
She spoke of the Muslim groups and individuals who attended the vigil for victims of Monday night’s terrorist attack; how they clearly felt they had to tell the world: “We’re not all like this, we’re devastated too.”
One of these people was Sidrah Sajad, who told TheJournal.ie at the vigil that those responsible for deaths of 22 people on Monday night did not represent her, or her religion. She is apprehensive about the impact this may have on Muslims in Manchester.
“After this, [there'll be] a lot of ignorant people, a lot of people who blame Muslims as a label. Yeah, we’re going to have, most likely, hate crime increasing, Muslim women being attacked, Muslims in general being attacked,” she said.
“I want to say to those people: look, don’t hate, it’s not about hating each other, it’s about standing together, loving each other and respecting each other.”
Labour MEP Afzal Khan said the Muslim community in the city has “mixed emotions” right now. They feel anger about what happened to their city and they feel fear that they will be blamed for the actions of one terrorist.
“Small elements who are ignorant don’t understand that, basically, their behaviour, of a backlash like this against innocent Muslims, puts them in the same category as the mindset of the terrorist,” Khan said.
He said he was heartened by the way in which people came together at Tuesday’s vigil.
“They were all singing from the same hymn sheet, understanding the need for solidarity, understanding the response has to be love or hate.”
This display of solidarity is welcome, but Sandhya Sharma is more concerned about what happens next, in the days and weeks after this attack.
Her organisation Safety4Sisters works with migrant women in Manchester who have been victims of gender-based violence.
“A lot of the women we work with are petrified of going out of the house, terrified of talking, petrified their accent will be picked up,” she said.
Similar to Rose Morris after the 1996 attack, one Albanian woman told Sharma she whispers to her children in public because she does not want people to hear her accent.
“She was subject to a racist attack on a bus during the build up to Brexit, physically attacked,” she said.
Another Albanian woman was in a park and she was spat on by a group of women and they said, ‘f**k off home, you’re not welcome.
One Pakistani woman who was a victim of a racist attack last year has stopped wearing a headscarf in public because she is afraid of the negative attention it may attract. On Tuesday she was afraid to leave her house.
She told Sharma she wanted to “mourn like any other Mancunian” but she did not feel like she could attend the vigil.
“I felt really sad – she’s put down roots, her children are in school, they’re doing phenomenally well,” she said. “She’s an amazing volunteer here. This is her city. This is the city where she is safe away from the violence – and it was significant violence she experienced at the hands of not just one perpetrator, but more than one, in a land where the laws fail women and actively attack women. This is her home now.”
Sharma cancelled a migrant women’s meeting yesterday because she was concerned about having a group of 20 women, many in headscarves, together in the city centre.
“There is a heightened sense of our visibility,” she said. Her hope now is that Manchester can “create safety after horror”.
“Moving out of the horror and the terror of the attack, we must remember the victims – that’s very important – and we must remember who we are as Mancunians and one of the things we must remember is we still have so far to go in ensuring safety and protection for all our citizens.
“All people deserve to be safe, all Mancunians.”
Got stuck in this monster of a traffic jam. I was nearly an hour just a few hundred metres short of the Leopardstown exit.
One thing which annoyed me, is there are dozens of ignorant motorists who won’t move for the emergency services or the M50 maintenance people responding to the incident. Some enterprising morons will even try cut up the hard shoulder, only ending up to block the emergency vehicle’s access to the incident. We should be prosecuting these people.
Should all be on traffic cams?
BMW x5 hefty price tag for something to go up in flames
I’m going to sue BMW for electric fire In my air conditioning. BMW ” Where’s the evidence”. Me “Burnt out on the aide of the M50″
Ive no idea whats going on but im absolutely certain from reports such as this and the evidence along the highways and motorways of Ireland that cars are spontaneously burning out at an unprecedented rate…seriously.
One in my local town burst into flames there 4 evenings ago. Wondering if they are all Opels??
Dont know Lily..only days ago the M4 at Liffey Valley eastbound was similarly blocked…and the M1 just weeks ago…something is wrong.
the dpf filter its the main cauze for overheated exhaust system from witch those cars burnout
Third party, FIRE, and theft is the cheapest insurance and daddy needs a new car!
The dpf is so expensive to service. Too many people buying diesel cars but they only do short drives that doesn’t suit a car with a dpf filter. The seller won’t tell you about that though.
Eduard…this dpf filter…is it on/in the exhaust system? Are 10 year old diesels fitted with them or is it only newer models?
Just newer cars Peter to keep the emissions down. Earlier insignias were horrible for it around the 2010 mark. Long drives the way to go.
Making sure the right type of engine oil is used when servicing is also critical and it’s not as simple as just referring to the grade as 5w30 synthetic, semi synthetic etc. Using oil with the correct ACEA/API or similar rating for your car engine type is critical to ensure that your dpf doesn’t get gunked up inside. I know for a fact that many garages aren’t up to speed on this issue either.
Thanks James…thats a relief..ive a 05 Mondeo diesel and her indoors has a diesel Renault…also old…isnt it ironic….
Peter, only Alanis Morissette would see any irony in that.
My wife care its anfiat croma 2007 and it has it. After 2000 they come on the cars
I would welcome a law whereby we all have to have a fire extinguisher in your car like on the continent. I hold my breath.
And let untrained people tackle a fire that has the added danger of a substantial amount of highly combustible and explosive fluid in it.
Nah , get out , get away and call the professionals . Not worth risking a life for a replaceable piece of metal.
Keith…for sure…even opening the bonnet on a car beginning to burn could cost you your face…
First thing I thought. Small bit of smoke, open the bonnet with your trusty fire extinguisher and then you’ll be hit with a big plume of smoke and a burned face!
The fire brigade had to come back out to this as it started burning again . Can’t see a fire extinguisher doing much.
You could just go and get one…if you like…not wait for a law to say you have to get one.
BMW X5 for Sale. Ash grey in colour, blazingly fast motor, excellent air con / heating system, drives like new.
‘Heavy delays’
Why?
Just put put the fire, remove the wreckage and let the world continue.
Why the big song and dance about minor road incidents in Ireland?
“No injuries have been reported”. The most important line in the story.
BM Trouble U
Drove past the car just as the fire was starting, flames started underneath the car looks looked like an oil leak, driver was out talking on his phone. Car was only an 08… thought the fire brigade would have arrived before it really caught fire, goes to show how quick a fire can spread.
“Bring in mandatory extinguisher in every car” brigade must be excited…
Leopardstown. Just has to be an X5.
A BMW ?
The driver must have used the indicator…
Publicity stunt for the new Absolutely Fabulous movie? Wheels on fire,rolling down the road…
Wasn’t service I say BMWs don’t go up in flames for no reason !
Opel Zafira ?
BMW X5 by the look of it, i thought the same initially, have a zafira myself recalled a second time because of fire hazard with air con/heating system.
Was it Nij burning out his X5 after a hit?
Has my Escort a DFP filter it gets very hot..
Ask her yourself.
I saw what happened. A big black bag of rubbish blew into the cars way and got stuck under it, which started the fire!!
Luckily nobody was injured.
I saw what happened. A big black bag of rubbish blew into the cars way and got stuck under it, which started the fire!
Luckily nobody was injured.
Spontaneous combustion, happens more frequently than most people think.
have your say