Zak praised for his appearance on The Tommy Tiernan Show
By Aimee Walsh
TOP hurler and Thomas Davis GAA member Zak Moradi has been praised by viewers following his appearance on The Tommy Tiernan show.
Iraqi-born Zak captivated viewers, last Saturday night, telling his incredible story when he and his family fled from a refugee camp in Iraq to Leitrim when he was only 11 years old.
Zak Moradi with Tommy Tiernan
“The response has been incredible. I have got thousands of texts from people all over the Country and all over The World”, Zak told The Echo.
Zak moved to Tallaght from Carrick-on-Shannon when he was 14 and has found the issues of anti-social behaviour and racism to be prevalent in parts of the area.
“I think in certain parts of Tallaght, racism is high enough. I think that, in my opinion, the South Dublin County Council are not doing anything to solve the problems.
“I have known many foreign nationals that have been attacked, their houses have been smashed.
“Unfortunately, you will always get racism, especially in working class areas. Nobody should be at home and have people smashing their windows, and it is always the same 20 or 30 people that cause it.
“Anti-social behaviour has been on the rise in the past couple of years, and nothing is being done to fix it. Certain political parties are afraid that they will lose votes and if they don’t fix it things are only going to get worse.”
Speaking about the contrast between his life in a refugee camp in Iraq to his life in Tallaght, Zak said people need to be more grateful for the opportunities they have, because he knows what it is like to have none.
“We did not have what these young people have in Tallaght. Everyone in Tallaght has opportunities. The one thing about Ireland is you get a chance to change your life around. In other countries you don’t get that chance.
“You get 10 chances in Ireland. Not one, not two not three. We always seem to be making excuses for people in this country.
“When I lived in a refugee camp, there was 70 kids playing football in their bare feet, and we never caused any trouble. We barely had anything. We just got on with life,” Said Zak.
Being involved with the GAA and being a member and coach in Thomas Davis GAA club has been a huge part of Zak’s integration into Irish Society.
“We have about two or three thousand members in Thomas Davis and everybody knows each other in the club, and everybody looks out for each other.
“If we were able to get more funding from the council we could get more coaches and double the amount of kids in the club in two to three years. This would get more kids off the streets as well.”
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