I was never subjected to violence ...but I was the boy with dark skin & funny name
Irish Sunday Mirror|January 24, 2021
Varadkar on struggles trying to fit in as child
SYLVIA POWNALL
I was never subjected to violence ...but I was the boy with dark skin & funny name

TANAISTE Leo Varadkar has opened up about his Indian heritage, admitting he was treated differently growing up as a person of color.

The Fine Gael leader said the white, Catholic Ireland of the 1980s made it difficult for the child of a multi-cultural family to fit in with his peers.

In RTE’s All Walks Of Life, Leo reveals: “I did grow up in what was a very white, mono-cultural Ireland. I was the guy with dark skin and the funny name.

“And even though I don’t think I was ever subjected to any kind of racial violence or anything like that, there is othering, of being a person of colour.

“It’s often just the little things like people asking you where you’re from.

“You’ll get asked, you know, do you ever go back to India.

This story is from the January 24, 2021 edition of Irish Sunday Mirror.

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This story is from the January 24, 2021 edition of Irish Sunday Mirror.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.