An Irish man of Chinese descent says the racism he experienced growing up in Ireland made him hate himself.
27-year-old Ashley Farrell has spoken out about the types of abuse he has been targeted with - from jeers at a GAA match to racist abuse on dating apps.
It comes as a new report found that reports of racist incidents and assaults in Ireland are at a record high.
On Lunchtime Live, Ashley - whose mother is from Dublin and whose father is from Hong Kong - explained that he grew up in Ireland.
He explained: "I didn’t take my dad’s surname - my mam herself thought it would be a better idea for me to have Farrell as a surname, as I’d have less of a chance of getting bullied in school.
“She also didn’t want me to learn Chinese because of my accent… she didn’t want it to affect my pronunciation of words. That’s just from her side of the story."
Ashely did get bullied in school as he grew up, saying he was called 'anything you can think of' - and it wasn't until secondary school that he encountered students of different nationalities and heritages.
One memory that sticks out for Ashley is attending his first Dublin GAA match when he was 14.
He recalled: "I was really excited to go - bought my own Dublin jersey and all that.
“On the Hill it was great craic… but everyone’s on the buzz and having a few drinks. It just took one person to say ‘there’s Sherlock’.
“These were full-on grown men, in their 40s or whatever, saying ‘Sherlock, Sherlock…’ jeering me. I was completely oblivious to who [Jason] Sherlock was, as I didn’t know anything about GAA."
Jason Sherlock - the well-known former Dublin footballer whose mother was Irish and whose father was from Hong Kong - has also frequently spoken out about the racism he experienced growing up.
Ashley hasn't gone to another match since that game, as his first experience was so uncomfortable.
'I wasn't comfortable in my own skin'
Ashley also grew up gay, and he says the worst experience he's had in terms of racism was when he started using dating apps in his late teens.
He recalled: “I was 18-19… starting college. I was so excited to leave school and start a new kind of life. When I went on the dating apps I thought 'it’s going to be really fun'.
“I was told ‘no spice, no rice’... ‘no Asians’... ‘too skinny’... ‘go back to your own country, you’re not Irish’. That’s the hardest part, I found… it made me hate myself.
"At that age, you’re just trying to find yourself, and I was just not comfortable in my own skin. I was trying so hard to break away from the Chinese stigma - I stopped wearing my glasses, I stopped wearing my hair down, I went on steroids… to not be skinny, small and Chinese."
Ashley said the whole experience meant he felt a lot of pressure on himself to try to change who he was.
Initially, he didn't believe speaking up about his own story would make much difference.
However, that changed in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, as he realised there are so many heartbreaking stories to be told.
Ashley said: “Everybody wants to be accepted in some form of life, no matter what your nationality is… but everybody knows that feeling of not being accepted.
“Even someone not getting into a college course or something small like that and feeling so low about that… why would you want somebody to feel that way you felt?
“The best you can do is just try and accept everyone - that’s all it takes. Just don’t say the word - there’s no need to say stuff."
