A man has said he and his husband had rocks thrown at them by a group of teenagers, who also used homophobic slurs, during an attack in Co Louth.
Ivan was out walking with his husband and their dog in Drogheda on Saturday evening when the incident happened.
He told Lunchtime Live they were walking near Drogheda bus station as a shortcut down to the park, which they normally do.
"There were kids there, just hanging [around] the bus station," he said.
"They decided to start saying some stupid things and throw rocks at us.
"We kind of were taken aback but it is what it is, we went on our way".
'I'm going to rape your dog'
Ivan said things escalated when they were walking home the same way.
"I kind of had this idea - in hindsight it could have been a bad idea - to take out my cell phone and start recording them.
"Obviously that angered them because it just got worse.
"The obscenities became much worse - 'I'm going to kill your dog, I'm going to rape your dog' - and they started following us.
"I couldn't believe it... to the point where they started picking up bigger rocks and throwing them at us.
"[They were] saying more vile things, like we were 'faggot bastards' and they're going to drive us out of Ireland back to where we came from".
'A bit of a scuffle'
Ivan said one teenager stood out for him in particular.
"There was one who was more vocal and more angry," he said.
"He seemed like he was showing off for his friends; he kept coming at us with his fists and high-kicking with his legs.
"He knocked my phone out of my hands a couple of times and I picked it up.
"He hit my husband [and] knocked his glasses off his head.
"I got in a bit of a scuffle with him, and then his friend came from my left side and hit me on the side of my head.
"It got pretty physical, but thankfully it didn't turn into a much graver situation".
Ivan said they moved here from Germany several years ago, and they want to stay.
"We came to Drogheda specifically because people here are so much nicer and more welcoming than in Dublin, for example," he laughed.
"We've been here in Ireland since 2017 and we really like it here, we want to stay in Drogheda".
'There is a crisis'
Ivan said they want to use this incident to get more done to help young people.
"We want to use this event to try to move the conversation in a right way," he said.
"There needs to be more money for youth projects, something needs to be done.
"There's a crisis: young people shouldn't be this hateful and they shouldn't be this frustrated.
"It's a different thing when you have a bigot that's like 50-years-old and he starts spewing hate out of frustration or envy.
"This hate and this vitriol shouldn't be present in somebody so young".
Ivan said rather than going to Gardaí, he wants political action.
"My feeling straight away was I don't want to give them any more reason to stay on this path that they're on - it's not what they need," he said.
"I was sad for them, honestly.
"We had a great response from two of our local representatives that are in the [Dáil].
"We heard back only from one councillor, it was Emma Cutlip, we're going to meet her on Monday.
"It seems other councillors are too busy with seagulls, or whatever," he added.
