On Saturday, March 30th, Lucy Kennedy hosts the first of this year's Ireland's Got Talent Live Shows, where the four judges will choose their first act to go through to the final.

One of the competition favourites is Longford lady Sharyn Ward, who wowed with her haunting rendition of Finbar Furey's 'Sweet Sixteen' in her audition:

Who else could listen to Sharyn Ward all day?😍 We can’t get enough of her! #GotTalentIRL pic.twitter.com/d1fmU7p4Km

— Ireland's Got Talent (@GotTalentIRL) February 2, 2019

Speaking on Today FM's Dermot and Dave, the proud traveller reveals that although she was overwhelmed with all the support she has received since then, the experience was tarnished by some disgusting comments sent to her after appearing on the show.

Terms like "beast", "subhumans" and "filthy locusts" were used to describe her and the travelling community.

Sharyn says, "I'm not an activist, I'm a singer" but feels it's very important to get point across that "racism is very alive for travellers", which is summed up by this sentence, "it's a really sad thing that I've been preparing Jack and Bonnie since they've been babies for this racism, because it will come to their door someday".

When asked about the idea of her winning IGT, where the winner gets €50,000 and a Christmas TV Special on Virgin Media One, the 34-year-old laughs, "anyone that knows me I have no value on money...but I would love a TV show".

The songstress also gives us a little hint to what she will be singing this weekend and it had us very intrigued. Such a tease!

We absolutely love Sharyn; she's a breath of fresh air and a shining light for travellers worldwide. And we cannot wait to hear what she has in store. We'll have the Kleenex on standby.

Ireland's Got Talent kicks off @7:30pm this Saturday (30th March) on Virgin Media One, with the live shows running over the next two weekends.

Check out the chat in full by pressing the play button on screen.