Fresh after being crowned 2018 Rose of Tralee, Kirsten Mate Maher has been verbally abused in a chipper queue.
The 21 year old is the first Irish African woman to win the competition and has previously said she's regularly asked if she's *actually* Irish.
Now it's emerged the Gardai are looking into an incident on Sunday night in Kilkenny, when a member of the public hurled abuse at Kirsten while she was on a night out with her boyfriend.
However there's limited action they can take because of a lack of hate crime legislation in Ireland.
The Immigrant Council Of Ireland has been campaigning for some time for the introduction of hate crime laws. Spokesperson Teresa Buczkowska says the legislation we do have isn't for purpose:
"Kirstin was verbally attacked but that is not recognised as a serious offence here. Whereas in the UK the racist motivation would be considered an aggravating factor and the person would be brought to justice."
