'You feel anti-immigrant sentiment is getting worse. But it’s always been there'

Harsh reactions to asylum seekers are amplified by social media but have been there since Ireland first took refugees in the 1950s, writes Imasha Costa

Derek Blighe at an anti-asylum seeker protest in Fermoy where about 70 people attended last year. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

"People forget that seeking protection is legal and a right for people. We have been reminding the Irish people, especially those that seem to have forgotten their history. They left this country when it was not good for them.”

Those are the words of Lucky Khambule who was born in South Africa but spent years living as an asylum seeker in a direct provision centre in Cork.