21 April 2000

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Sinn Fein slams racist attack in Dublin

Sinn Fein Dublin City Councillor Larry O'Toole has slammed the racist attack on a 16-year-old Nigerian asylum-seeker in Dublin on Wednesday night.

``This completely unprovoked attack is extremely worrying and underpins what Sinn Fein have been saying about the asylum policies of the present government - that they are based on intolerance and do nothing but add to the atmosphere of racism that has grown from the mishandling of the issue from day one,'' said Councillor O'Toole.

``Some sections aof the media must also hold their hands up and admit that inflammatory headlines falsely telling people of a flood of `bogus' asylum seekers or the country being overrun are directly linked to these racist attacks.

``Ireland has been lucky up to recently not to have a history of racism towards emigrants. A country whose own emigrants bore the brunt of racism in England and elsewhere should not make the same mistakes and let racism take root in society. Racism must be challenged in the workplace, in football grounds, in the pubs and elsewhere - it should not tolerated for one second.''

ENDS

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Tel: +353-1-8726100 and +353-1-8726839   ·   Fax +353-1-8733074
E-mail: sinnfein@irlnet.com   ·   Website: http://www.sinnfein.org

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