A UCC lecturer says racism in Ireland towards ethnic minorities is a 'pandemic within a pandemic'.
Amanullah De Sondy spoke out in August 2019, when an anonymous racist voice message he received labelled him a 'scumbag and a terrorist.'
But he has now revealed the abuse he endured has continued.
This has resulted in him considering leaving Ireland.
Mr De Sondy is the head of study of religions and a senior lecturer in contemporary Islam at University College Cork.
He told Newstalk Breakfast racial abuse is especially prominent online.
"I think we need to put this into context, and the context is that there really is a pandemic on a pandemic.
"We have to understand that we're all going through a very difficult situation, but we're not actually all in the same boat.
"Black, Asian, minority ethnic Irish folks are physically and mentally burdened - but they're also burdened not just with COVID-19, but also racism".
He said he gets "a very bad reaction" for raising awareness about racism in Ireland.
"It doesn't fit the kind of usual narrative or box that people want me to be in, which is if you're an immigrant to Ireland you should shut up, you should sit back, you should just accept your position".
'White people feel very uncomfortable'
Mr De Sondy said part of the issue is people's perceptions.
"If you're an immigrant to Ireland and you don't give the story that you've come from some hell-hole which is far away, and that Ireland in some way has saved you...and everything is absolutely grand you get a reaction".
"All of us need to think very deep, long and hard on why is that? Why is it that you have to play this good immigrant card?
"I grew up on one of the roughest estates in Glasgow, I know what resilience means, I know what it means to be able to speak up: I don't feel that in Ireland".
He suggested that while racism might not be 'buried', other important discussions are not happening.
"I don't hear critical conversations happening because I think that as soon as you name racism, many white people feel very, very uncomfortable and become very defensive.
"The more conversations we have, the better".
"Talking about racism is not a political issue, talking about racism has to be a humanity issue.
"It has to be an issue where we're joining the dots of the inequalities that are happening in society".
He added that changing demographics in Ireland, such as inward migration growth, "is scaring a lot of people and it's making a lot of people very nervous - often it's because of very strong-held prejudices and stereotypes that they have.
"Where have they come from, and how do we challenge these - I think that's really, really important".
