An Indian man in Dublin spoke of his frustration after he was refused housing "because he ate meat".
Simran Singh Bakshi and his girlfriend were in the midst of house hunting when they came across an advert for a double room. Simran told Dublin Live: "They were an Indian couple. We agreed on everything and at the very last moment, they asked me for my passport details.
"They saw I was Sikh because of my name and the woman said, ‘You can’t live here because you eat non-veg’." An angry Simran added: "I asked her if she wanted more money for the rent or if me eating non-veg was an issue. She said we strictly want vegetarian people.
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"My girlfriend is vegetarian so she tells me, ‘If your girlfriend wants to live in the single room that’s fine with me but you can’t live here’. I even said I won’t cook non-veg at home and I’ll just eat meat at restaurants, and she still said no. It was so frustrating."
Simran's experience isn't a rare occurrence as a number of Indian professionals in Dublin have found themselves being refused housing by other Indian landlords or subletters due to their dietary habits. As rents continue to rise and the number of rental properties falls, this inter-community issue has presented itself as a major roadblock for those seeking a place to live in an already demanding housing market.
A cursory glance at a number of Facebook groups for Indian immigrants in Ireland will reveal several rooms being advertised for "vegetarians only". A recent survey by Pew Research found that only 39% of adults in India described themselves as vegetarian.
However, it is not uncommon for "vegetarian-only" housing complexes to exist in many parts of the country.
When Vinit Sawant decided to move to Dublin from Limerick, he was shocked to see the number of prerequisites put in place by subletters. He said: "Things like you should be a working professional, you should be single, you shouldn’t eat non-veg, there should be no visitors.
"I’ve been told I can eat meat at restaurants or have it in my room but I’m not allowed to eat non-veg in the common areas. I think even the landlords themselves wouldn’t place that many restrictions."
Gopi Talari also faced similar issues when he moved to Ireland with his wife in March. He told Dublin Live: "People have also said no to us because we eat non-vegetarian food.
"I got a call from another person who’s from the same Indian community as me and he said he could even reduce the rent for us but we weren’t allowed to eat non-veg in the house."
When "Ankita" - whose name has been changed to protect her identity - moved into a new place, her strictly vegetarian flatmate told her she wasn't allowed to use certain shared kitchen appliances even though they belonged to the landlord. She said: "I had to buy my own utensils which was not a problem but I come from a community where we eat plenty of fish and every time I cooked it became a point of contention between my flatmate and me.
"She never explicitly said I couldn't cook with meat but I found myself walking on eggshells around her. It came to a point where I felt too anxious to cook and I had to move out."
Dublin Live have contacted the Residential Tenancies Board for comment on the matter.
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