Ireland bid farewell to its world-famous welcome last year as anti-immigrant rhetoric took hold – Irish Times

Ireland waved goodbye to last year’s world-famous welcome.

For years, the country appeared to distance itself from the xenophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric that currently plagues political and social debate in much of mainland Europe. A housing crisis, an epidemic of misinformation, and one night in November changed everything.

Fast forward 12 months and the atmosphere for asylum seekers in this country was already changing. Protesters opposed to the detention of international protection applicants (IPs) in local buildings continued to block traffic on Dublin’s East Wall, causing chaos around the city centre. The protests drew far-right and anti-immigration activists from across the country, but some locals said they did not represent the beliefs of the region as a whole.

Also in late January, the government announced the closure of the CityWest transport hub as an emergency evacuation center. As a result, single men entering the country seeking asylum will no longer be provided with accommodation. The country said it would prioritize supporting people of Ukrainian origin and women and children seeking asylum. “There is no lack of compassion from the government or the Irish people, but there is a lack of capacity and we are doing everything we can at the moment to procure more accommodation.” said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at the time.

By the end of January, 27 homeless IPs were on the streets. By late March, this had increased to about 400. By May, there were more than 550 IPs without accommodation. A subsequent investigation found that around 1,400 people seeking international protection experienced homelessness for up to 10 weeks between January and May, including three pregnant women and four unaccompanied children. It was revealed that it was included.

In May, clashes between anti-immigration and pro-immigration demonstrators on Upper Sandwith Street in the south of the city resulted in an arson attack on a makeshift refugee camp outside Dublin’s International Protection Office. . Although no one was injured, the incident raised concerns among government officials about the safety of homeless IPs. Within days, the Department for Integration and Equality announced it would provide emergency accommodation to homeless asylum seekers, and by June the number of people without housing had fallen to around 50.

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Things got quiet over the summer, or so it seemed to the public. However, staff within the Ministry of Integration continued efforts to prevent another group of asylum seekers, Ukrainians, from entering the country without access to accommodation. They were also concerned about a High Court ruling in April that found the government had breached EU law by not admitting all asylum seekers.

The government also faced criticism for creating a two-tiered structure between how it supports Ukrainians and asylum seekers. Children’s Ombudsman Dr Niall Muldoon said in April that the differences were “unacceptable”.

This was echoed in a July report on the end of direct provision from a government-appointed external advisory group. “All refugees who have ‘suffered trauma and danger and are forced to flee their homeland’ should be treated equally,” the report’s authors write, and rely on the private sector to house intellectual property. The practice is unreliable and has also reached its limits.

Migration experts continued to stress the need for Ireland to change its approach to the crisis, moving away from emergency mechanisms and towards a system that can deal with migration over the long term. One expert said we live in a world of climate change, war and persecution. The number of asylum seekers arriving here will wax and wane, but this will be an ongoing problem.

In September, the Ministry of Children appointed a national director for public participation to develop a substantive and long-term communication system with the communities where accommodation centers for IPs and Ukrainians are planned to open. .

By October, the number of Ukrainians and intellectuals directly accepted by the state exceeded 100,000. A proposal put to Cabinet by Integration Minister Roderick O’Gorman to detain Ukrainians for only 90 days caused strong opposition within the government, with Tánaiste Michael Martin and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien in particular insisting that responsibility be placed on the Department of Housing. He insisted that it would be transferred. , we have no choice but to provide housing or homeless services.

Two months later, after weeks of heated debate, the government agreed to a 90-day accommodation scheme for Ukrainians and a reduction in social welfare payments comparable to those paid to other asylum seekers. The government says the changes, which will come into effect once legislation is passed in the Oireachtas in the new year, will bring Ireland’s system more in line with those of other Western European countries. Ministers also believe this step is necessary to stop the secondary movement of Ukrainian refugees to Ireland from other safe countries.

On 23 November, violence erupted in Dublin city center on a scale not seen for many years following the attack on children and their parents in Parnell Square. Amid the violence, rioters targeted at least two accommodation facilities for asylum seekers and refugees. Just over three weeks later, a historic Galway hotel designated as accommodation for asylum seekers was torched. Gardaí later said they believed the attack on the Ross Lakehouse Hotel was the work of local residents, but far-right groups, including some from the National Party, have been active in the area for months in an anti-immigration campaign. Fire also admitted that he had been exercising. Broadcast debate in the run-up to Christmas included comments from local Galway MPs criticizing the government for continuing to accept asylum seekers despite “houses being full”.

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Another fire in a disused pub in Ringsend that had been designated as housing for a homeless family was also confirmed to have been caused by arson, with gardaí saying the building would be used to house asylum seekers. They believe this is due to false claims made by anti-immigrant activists. . Some local councilors subsequently claimed that the attack might not have happened if there had been “clear communication” about the planned use by the Dublin Area Homeless Enforcement Unit.

At the time of writing, there are over 102,500 Ukrainian nationals and over 26,000 applicants for international protection in Ireland. More than 250 of them became homeless in the days leading up to Christmas. Discussions about people fleeing war and persecution are currently mainstream. Disinformation and fear-mongering surrounding immigration has permeated the public consciousness on an unprecedented scale in this country. And with local and potential general elections looming, immigration will no doubt be one of the main issues on the minds of those heading to the polls in 2024.

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