'Go back to your country!'- Indian nurses fear for life in Ireland amid racial attacks

Thousands of comments have flooded in after an open letter from an Indian nurse detailing racial abuse in Ireland has gone viral recently following a spike in racist behaviour across the country.

This comes after the nurse saw an eight-year-old Indian girl being bullied and racially targeted by a group of Irish teenagers.

The nurse's open letter said he was considering leaving Ireland while 30 to 35 Indian nurses are seriously thinking about leaving their jobs because they no longer feel safe.

The open letter titled: 'Why we're leaving' was originally posted on Reddit from an Indian nurse working in Ireland and has since gone viral with over 500 comments on the post alone.

The message starts off with: "I don’t usually write things like this. But today, I feel like I have to. Not just for myself, but for my wife, my children, my friends, and that little Indian girl I saw being attacked yesterday.

"We came to Ireland with dreams — not big ones. We didn’t want luxury or fame. Just a peaceful life. Honest work. A little respect.

"My wife and I are both nurses. Like so many others, we left behind our families, our childhood homes, everything we knew to come here and help. To work hard. To live quietly. To make a better future. But now? We’re planning to leave. And we’re not the only ones.

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"In our circle alone, around 30 to 35 Indian nurses are talking seriously about quitting their jobs — some are applying to Australia, some going back to India. Even doctors are being targeted now. You might’ve seen it in the news. Or maybe not. But we see it. We feel it. We live it.

"Yesterday, I saw something that broke me. An eight-year-old Indian girl, surrounded by a group of Irish boys and girls, maybe 15 or 16 years old. They were pushing her. Bullying and laughing. For no reason. Just because she looked different. I helped her escape. They ran. And I stood there shaking, wondering…what kind of place is this becoming?

"We came to Ireland to save lives and now we’re scared to walk home after a shift. We kept going during COVID. We missed weddings and funerals back home to stay here and work. We followed every law, paid every tax, waited for every visa. We believed this was a country of kindness. And now? Now we’re afraid for our children. Afraid to send them to school.

"Afraid they’ll be treated like less than human — just because of their skin, their accent, their food, their culture.

"We know not everyone here is like this. We’ve met wonderful Irish people. Some have become like family. But that kindness is starting to feel like a whisper.....and the hate is starting to feel like a storm.

"I don’t want to write this letter. I want to stay hopeful. But hope starts to fade when you see that even a eight-year-old brown girl can be treated like she doesn’t belong.

"To Ireland, please listen: If we leave, it's not because we don't love this country. It's because this country stopped loving us back. If you lose your nurses, your doctors, your care workers don’t ask "why." You already know why.

"We didn’t leave because of money. We left because we’re tired of being afraid. Tired of being ignored. Tired of watching silence win. There’s still time. But not much. This isn't about politics anymore. It’s about basic human decency.

"If this letter reaches even one person who didn’t understand before then it’s worth writing.

"We are not here to divide. We are not here to invade. We are here because we believed Ireland was a place where all people had value. Please prove us right".

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has said that racially motivated abuse of workers should not be tolerated in a recent press release.

In 2024 alone, Over 35,429 nurses and midwives registered were educated outside of Ireland.

INMO Deputy General Secretary Edward Mathews said: “Recent horrific attacks on members of the Indian community in Ireland should be condemned. There must be a robust policing response to racially motivated abuse and attacks. We do not want Ireland to be a place where nurses and midwives are afraid to work".

One comment on the open letter among the hundreds under the Reddit post was as follows: 

"As an Irish man I completely understand. I could apologise for what is happening in my country and say that I'm completely shocked and both are true.

"I'm shocked as I personally don't know of a single person who I would consider racist. I am from around the area where that poor man was attacked and stripped. Myself and my family where and are still completely shocked by what happened. We have never seen anything like it before in the area and couldn't believe what we were seeing.

"But whether or not I do or don't know of any racist people, or whether or not this has happened before. IT IS HAPPENING!

"My wife is a Southeast Asia woman who works in the HSE, and I worry for her and our family. I also worry for what I might do to anybody that would harm her.

"We as a nation, can say that we are not a racist nation, and to many, that's the truth, but if we as a nation allow these things to continue to happen then what's the difference if we are racist or not. I am ashamed of what is happening".

Meanwhile, an Indian taxi driver in Dublin was also allegedly racially targeted by his taxi passengers and was left wondering if he should leave his job after ten years.

The taxi driver, according to The Irish Times, was jumped by two passengers who "struck him twice across his forehead with a bottle, shouting, 'go back to your country!'”

The father of two is recovering from physical injuries sustained in the attack but he has been left fearful of what could happen in the future.

The Irish Times said the man has been living in Ireland for the past 23 years with his family and driving his taxi in Dublin for the past ten. Now he has to think about changing his career.