A BLACK British blogger and model received a torrent of abuse yesterday when she chaired an Irish Twitter account.
Started in 2012, the @Ireland Twitter account is based on the idea that a single voice cannot represent a country.
By sharing different people's experiences and lives, the Ireland account aims to connect Ireland to the world through the different voices that chair the account each week.
This week the selected curator for the @Ireland twitter account was Michelle Marie, an Oxford-born body confidence blogger and plus size model.
Michelle Marie, who moved to Lough Mask in Mayo three years ago, says that while she is not of Irish descent, she has settled in Ireland and says "it has my heart" when speaking of her love of her adopted home.
Michelle is also mixed race of Guyanese, Jamaican and white British descent, and was adopted by white parents as a baby.
When Michelle announced her take over of the account early yesterday morning, most of the responses were positive and welcoming.
But some Twitter users took the opportunity to tweet the blogger abuse relating to her race.
Throughout the day, Michelle was told "Blacks out, Ireland for the Irish!" and referred to as a "negress", amongst other offensive tweets.
In response to the backlash, Michelle said, "I am in no way claiming to be Irish or to reflect the native Irish in anyway [..] My daughter is an Irish citizen, it is my adopted home and I love being here."
On deciding to curate the account, she said she "expected trolls and backlash" but yesterday she "experienced racism, sexism, fat phobia, and homophobia to a degree I have never known."
"I have had 8 hours of non stop hate thrown at me," she said, "I am hurt, shocked and appalled."
Read some of the abusive tweets Michelle was sent below...
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