AN Irish woman has claimed that she resigned from a British factory after being “taunted” with degrading remarks about her nationality.
Dublin-born Lorraine Boyle says that she was sent emails with pictures of potatoes dressed as leprechauns with the subject matter ‘you’.
The 30-year-old mother of one, who has lived in England since 1996, also claims that the Riverdance theme was played whenever she walked into a room and that she was called ‘diddly dee’.
She claims she was eventually forced to quit her job as a result of the alleged bullying at Northamptonshire-based IVG White, which is a subsidiary of Irish food firm Keelings.
Ms Boyle made the allegations on Ryan Tubridy's 2FM radio show saying: “In this day and age I thought it was just ridiculous what they were doing."
She also alleged that other non-British nationals at the factory were subject to racial abuse. "It was appalling," she said, "and it wasn’t just aimed at me”.
The Tallaght woman claims that by the time she resigned she was on anti-depressants and was afraid to go to work for fear of persecution.
She told The Irish Sun: “Never did I think my heritage would be used as a weapon against me. I find it disgusting that an employee at a company so linked with Ireland could suffer such abuse.”
In a statement released to the Irish Post, Keelings said an internal investigation into the allegations was underway.
They said that the company "does not allow or condone any form of bullying in the workplace".
The Irish fruit firm added that it believed it "inappropriate" to discuss issues relating to individual personnel and would not comment on "the details of the allegations, the internal investigations or the personnel involved."
The Irish Post also contacted IVG White but was told there was nobody available to comment.
See More: IVG White, Irish In Britain, Popular
