Racist attacks in Tipperary on home of 14-year-old boy

Us Irish may think we're not really that racist, just in a funny, loveable way. But, we may want to look at the treatment of one black teenager in Tipperary before we trot out that gem again.

Thomas Channon is only 14-years-old and has been attracting the ire of local thugs just because of his skin colour. The boy has been bullied and tormented over the past five years in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

Things went to a new and more violent level on Friday night when a gang attacked the house. They broke almost every window in the house, leaving the family shocked and distraught and lumbered with a massive glazing bill.

His mother, Ann Marie, who's white, has also been targeted with abuse by some locals. She told the Irish Sun: "I'm traumatised over this and Thomas has been very upset.

"For the past five years we haven't been able to live with the sickening levels of abuse because my son is mixed race. I get, 'You n*****-loving whore' thrown at me. I've had bananas thrown at me as recently as yesterday."

Gardaí say they are investigating the incident and that a man has been arrested with a file being prepared for the DPP.