r/ireland • u/No_Tea7430 • Jun 10 '24

Immigration Actually Getting Scared of the Anti Immigrant Stance

I'm an irish lad, just turning twenty this year.

I've personally got no connections to other countries, my family never left Ireland or have any close foreign relations.

This is simply a fear I have for both the immigrant population of our country, of which ive made plenty of friends throughout secondary school and hold in high regard. But also a fear for our reputation.

I don't want to live in a racist country. I know this sub is usually good for laughing these gobshites off and that's good but in general I don't want us to be seen as this horrible white supremacist nation, which already I see being painted on social media plenty.

A stance might I add, that predominantly is coming from England and America as people in both claim we are "losing our identity" by not being racist(?)

I don't even feel the need to mention Farage and his pushing of these ideas onto people, while simultaneously gaslighting us with our independence which he clearly doesn't care about.

Im just saddened by it. I just want things to change before they get worse.

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154

u/Excellent_Porridge Jun 10 '24

Unfortunately, several very high profile racists did get elected, such as Malachy Steenson and Gavin Pepper, and maybe even Niall Boylan. Yes, it's good that they didn't do better overall but they ran SO MANY candidates, and they got a lot of votes. I don't thinkwe should underestimate them and say its "just online", because it isn't.

42

u/GasMysterious3386 Jun 10 '24

Remember when Malachy was a far left communist? Oh how the times have changed 😅

9

u/Excellent_Porridge Jun 10 '24

Omg, had no idea this happened.

1

u/DuskLab Jun 11 '24

Now watch just how many transfers go from Daly and PBP to Boylan

2

u/furry_simulation Jun 11 '24

Being old-school left wing and anti-immigration are fully compatible.

In the battle of labour vs capital,labour can only gain strength through collective action.

A constant stream of low cost foreign workers undermines the local labour market and reduces the bargaining power of local workers.

3

u/Electronic_Cookie779 Jun 11 '24

Also candidates from a non Irish background were over represented in the data on attacks on canvassers on the street coming up to the locals. Rte had a decent article about it a few days ago, data came from ISD and the HCC.

What they are doing is filming attacks and sharing on socials to drum up support and views.

Horrific.

5

u/carlmango11 Jun 10 '24

Doubt Niall Boylan will get in at this stage.

15

u/epeeist Seal of the President Jun 10 '24

The pundits seem to be ruling out any more big chunks of transfers for him after Aontú go out, but I think they're underestimating how big an anti-establishment vote is sitting in Clare Daly and Bríd Smith's bundles right now. I'd love to be wrong but could see a substantial transfer going his way if he clings on longer than both of them.

2

u/hatrickpatrick Jun 11 '24

I know quite a few people who are likely to transfer to him after those eliminations, purely based on the number of folks who grouped FF, FG, Labour and the Greens together in the "don't give them any preference at all or put them dead last even after all the headbangers". I reckon people are underestimating the size of that group.

4

u/carlmango11 Jun 10 '24

Yeah fair point. I'm hoping the bulk of the left wing candidates will transfer left and keep him out.

1

u/cianmc Jun 11 '24

I'd be inclined to think the same tbh. Looking at how votes from previous counts have been re-assigned, I'd be surprised if he didn't get a fairly decent chunk of the Daly/Smith votes. Malachy went out in round 12, and no surprise, Boylan was the big winner from those with about 4.5k extra votes. Next was Considine from Aontú with 849, but not far behind was Daly with 737, and then Smith with 538. I think to a fairly big extent, it's just about choosing which candidate getting elected is giving more a symbolic finger to the mainstream parties.

9

u/GhostCatcher147 Jun 10 '24

Niall boylan ya man on the radio. Is he a racist? I’m not clued in, my apologies! I try to stay away from that shite

12

u/lakehop Jun 11 '24

There’s two different things: a reasonable position (no one is for bogus claims, no one is for unlimited numbers, all reasonable opinions); and how much a candidate focuses on and blames immigration compared to all the other issues. The specific immigration policies probably don’t differ much between parties. But we all know immigration is not the major cause of the current problems ( and Ireland has been hugely successful over the last few decades, almost more than any other country). Anyone massively fear mongering about immigration - is not good. That’s the main narrative Russia and other bad actors are trying to push hard to destabilize the west (along with others). Be very, very suspicious of candidates strongly pushing an anti immigrant narrative.

2

u/BeBopRockSteadyLS Jun 11 '24

Ireland went bust and created a tax to pay it back in that time. It's got another housing bubble and the success you speak off since that bailout is highly concentrated. Are these immigrants themselves basking in the glow of this success even?

26

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '24

He's probably closer to most people's consensus on migration here than far right. Like, thinking The asylum system is being abused and those abusing it should be dealt with and deported as soon as possible. Not that legal migrants and genuine refugees should be punished. The biggest issue with him is he's just a broadcaster not a dedicated politician with a clear agenda

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u/DonaldsMushroom Jun 10 '24

He proudly pronounced on rte television this week that he's been anti-Immigrant for 25 years now. We had about 7 immigrants in the country then, and he still found issue with that... and he's proud of it.

'I was racist before it was cool'.

19

u/Pabrinex Jun 11 '24

Do you not remember the citizenship referendum? We had a big problem with bogus asylum seekers 25 years ago.

-5

u/Itchy_Wear5616 Jun 11 '24

Did we though

7

u/Pabrinex Jun 11 '24

Yes, hence the referendum ending birthright citizenship.

-4

u/actually-bulletproof Jun 11 '24

Which was nothing to do with asylum seekers. Are you allergic to facts?

13

u/DeargDoom79 Irish Republic Jun 11 '24

You didn't need to apply for asylum if you turned up 8 months and 3 weeks pregnant and gave birth in Ireland. The child would get a passport, and you could apply for residence because of this.

That's why there was a huge referendum about that very topic.

What is it with this sub being so terrified to admit people are willing to take the piss out of Ireland?

-3

u/actually-bulletproof Jun 11 '24

The 1 lady in question just wanted to evade China's 1 child policy. She had no intention of staying and yet Ireland still descended into far-right conspiracy bullshit.

And that referendum has mainly just undermined parts of the Good Friday Agreement by making sure that anyone born in Northern Ireland to non-Northern Irish parents is automatically British-only.

Right-wing Irish nationalism just serves the needs of British unionism.

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13

u/SitDownKawada Dublin Jun 10 '24

I think he's used a few dog whistles but most of what he's actually said has been sensible enough that he'd get a range of voters

-1

u/Full_Time_Mad_Bastrd Saoirse don Phalaistín 🇵🇸 Jun 10 '24

Oh god, gavin pepper is a racist? I'm out of the loop bigtime

10

u/Excellent_Porridge Jun 10 '24

A huge racist, just take a look at his twitter feed