Ireland facing calls to make Leprechauns more inclusive

With St Patrick’s day rapidly approaching, there have been calls for leprechauns to be made more inclusive and diverse to reflect the new Ireland.

Dublin man Mwengwe Akinyemi has launched a campaign to have the traditional image of the white leprechaun with a ginger beard scrapped. He told us that he finds it a bit racist.

“I find it a bit racist.” he told us. “Legend has it that leprechauns are little people that nobody ever sees, so how do you know they’re white? Maybe they came here from Nigeria like me.”

So would he like to see more diverse depictions of leprechauns?

“Yes. Of course. Well, when I say diverse I mean black. Just black. Not Asian. And certainly not gay. Leprechauns aren’t gay.”

Mwengwe called on all non-white people not to wear anything this St Patrick’s day that shows leprechauns as white. He also questioned the depiction of St Patrick as an old white man with a long grey beard.

“Apparently St Patrick came here from the UK. Well guess what? I was living over there for five years before I moved over here to seek international protection and let me tell you something, there’s millions of black people over there. Based on that evidence, I think we can safely say that there’s a strong possibility that St Patrick was a brother from another Mother! You know what I’m saying? Yeah, you know.”