Canvassing in local elections is ‘intimidating’ and ‘demoralising’, says FG migrant candidate

Canvassing for migrant candidates in the upcoming local elections has become “intimidating” and “demoralising”, a north Dublin Fine Gael candidate has said.

Supriya Singh, who is running in Donaghmede, says the racial abuse, vandalism and harassment she has experienced in recent weeks is “upsetting and disheartening” and totally contrasts with the Ireland she “fell in love with” eight years ago.

A former TV producer and journalist from New Delhi in India, Ms Singh and her family lived in London for five years before they moved to Ireland in 2016. She joined Fine Gael in 2021 and the following year started canvassing.

Ms Singh says she “never faced intimidating behaviour” before this year, and even those who disagreed with her politics were polite and “never abused me”.

However, in recent weeks, 20 of her posters have disappeared, another eight have been “defaced with racist comments”, and last week, she was verbally abused by a passerby while putting up a poster. “A woman started recording a video and hurling abuse at my campaign team. It was intimidating and demoralising.”

Ms Singh and her husband were particularly worried their 11-year-old daughter would see the racial slurs smeared across images of her mother. Once they were taken down, the couple hid the posters in the car until the children were asleep before storing them at home.

“My son is too young to understand, but my daughter would be scared. She has her whole life in advance of her, and these kinds of experiences can be very frightening.

“I cried that day, overwhelmed by how someone could be so cruel and forget that we are normal human beings with a family. No one should ever have to go through such incidents in life.”

Ms Singh has also experienced online harassment in local social media groups from a “fake profile” that has since been removed by administrators. “It’s all very stressful, I’ve never gone through these things before. People often say politics is not easy for women, and I now understand that now first hand.”

Fine Gael’s director of elections, Damien English, recently warned that candidates with migrant backgrounds were experiencing chilling levels of threats and racism. However, a joint statement from all political parties condemning this behaviour is needed to tackle the problem, says Ms Singh.

In the meantime, she feels bolstered by the “remarkably kind” people she has met on the door steps. “Ireland has been my home for the past eight years – it was the love and warmth of the Irish people that inspired me to become involved in the community and give back in any way I could. My reason for being here is to serve and I will continue to do so wholeheartedly, without giving up,” she said.