Student paper's racist item regretted

An item in a student newspaper in University College Dublin asking students which ethnic minority they hated the most has been…

An item in a student newspaper in University College Dublin asking students which ethnic minority they hated the most has been criticised by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) as "racist tripe".

The current edition of the student-union-funded University Observer carries a "vox pop" in which students who replied to the question said they did not like "the Pakis because they smell different" or the Chinese because they are everywhere.

The USI president, Mr Colm Jordan, said the item incited people to hatred and should not have been published in a newspaper circulated in one of the largest university campuses in Europe.

"There should be an apology to the members of ethnic communities for giving people a platform in which to spout this racist tripe," he said.

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The newspaper's editor, Mr Enda Curran, said he fully apologised for the article, which was "totally wrong".

"I'm accepting full responsibility, and whatever consequences there are I will accept them," he added.

The newspaper had recently been running a series of articles on cultural diversity, he added.