'My child had to be hospitalised because of his skin colour"

A mixed-race boy who says he has been the victim of persistent bullying because of his skin colour had to be hospitalised recently after being allegedly assaulted by a number of other children while at school. Ian Connon (9) is a fourth-class pupil at Gaelscoil na Boinne and the alleged assault on 19th June last is believed to have begun after Ian refused to hand over his football to some older children. According to his mother Clodagh Connon, there were about 13 children involved and Ian suffered injuries to his nose and foot as well as back and abdominal pain. His distraught mother said she is so upset by the racism and abuse her son is being subjected to in the area that she has sent him to stay with his grandmother in the US. Ian has been the victim of name calling and verbal abuse in the estate where he lives for some time but this is the first time that he has been physically attacked, according to Ms Connon. She told the Meath Chronicle that Ian had come home from school as usual on Thursday evening and at first did not say anything about what happened. 'I thought he had a dirty nose and washed the top of his nose. I thought it was dirt in his nostril but it was blood. I noticed he was in pain as I tried to clean it,' she said. Ms Connon also said that he was limping and his ankle was 'grossly swollen'. She brought him to the doctor on call who said there was soft tissue damage to his foot. When they came home, Ian"s pain increased and Ms Connon said he was 'screaming in pain' and she brought him to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. Because he had some bumps to his head, he was given some skull X-rays and kept in overnight for observation. His foot was sprained and bruised and the cartilage in his nose was displaced. When he came home from school on 19th June, Ms Connon said Ian"s shirt was covered in dirt and grass stains and his nose was swollen but he would not tell her what happened and did not give her the full story. She said she only learned the full extent of what had happened when two children who witnessed the incident told their father who then told Ms Connon. 'They said he was attacked and the children called him a nigger and told him he was the colour of horses s**t and was no better than that. They told him to go back to Africa - we have never even been to Africa,' said Ms Connon. She said Ian and some other children were playing football and when another child wanted to take the football but Ian said it was his, they then 'took him down'. Ms Connon was born in Dublin but lived in the US for many years, where Ian was born. She wanted to raise Ian in Ireland believing it would be a better life for him and they moved to Trim when he was four months old. She said that while 'most sensible people consider him a member of the community' at times she has to bring him into the house because of the abuse he is getting in the area. She said that 'racism in this country is unbelievable' and that the day he was beaten up, Ian asked her 'what the 'N" word was'. 'My child had to be hospitalised because of his skin colour. It is unbelievable. He has as much right to be here as anyone,' she said. 'I am getting him out of the country for a month or two. I may move with him. If I can get a visa back, then we will not be returning, purely on the racism in this country,' she said adding that she was 'not going to have my son tormented'. Ms Connon also said she is taking Ian out of Gaelscoil na Boinne and has enrolled him in Boardsmill School for September. Gaelscoil na Boinne Principal, Cindy Buckly, said that any allegations would be investigated and that it would be improper to comment until the outcome of investigations.