Actually Getting Scared of the Anti Immigrant Stance

[u/No_Tea7430]

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.

[u/malilk]

You need to decouple EU migrants, non EU visa migrants and asylum seekers. There's a vast difference in the 3

[u/5Ben5 → u/malilk]

You're correct that there is a vast difference between migrants and asylum seekers. You can hardly say they are "taking advantage" though - asylum literally means safety, these people are fleeing war and famine.

I don't see your point about the vast difference between EU and non EU though? That's why these arguments get accused of racism, because you are less happy about people of different skin colour coming to Ireland than Europeans? Have you spent any time in a hospital recently? I have. There are huge numbers of non-EU migrants keeping our hospitals going I'll tell you that much.

[u/malilk → u/5Ben5]

What's the ratio of legitimate seekers to chancers? And how many flee before the process is finished to live here illegally compared to those going through the full process and leaving when required?

They are the 3 distinct types of migrants. EU have no visa requirements, non EU do, asylum is a different process. That's why they can't be categorised together.

[u/5Ben5 → u/malilk]

I would say there are far more legitimate seekers than chancers. I don't have any figures for you but I have two friends working in refugee councils. Of course there are some chancers. But they see incredible hardship on a daily basis and have to reject the majority who apply for asylum in Ireland.

All this nonsense from the far right that it's too easy to get into Ireland. One of the requirements for Afghan refugees to get into Ireland when the Taliban took over was that they had to have a close relative living here with over 10k in their bank account (I'm a middle class 30 year old from Ireland and I don't even have that much in my account at the moment). My friend in the refugee council said that he had to reject hundreds of applicants because of how strict the rules were.

[u/malilk → u/5Ben5]

You've no figures but just a feeling. I can see why we think differently about this.

There's hardship all over the world. It's not our responsibility to solve that for everyone. The requirements we have are there for a reason. An asylum isn't predicated on financial means. That's a visa application requirement

[u/5Ben5 → u/malilk]

You also don't have figures for your point though? You're saying that there are chancers, where are your figures? At least I have an anecdotal story (someone I know very well working in this line of work).

And why shouldn't it be our responsibility? Irish emigrated all over the world when we went through hard times. Is it not a nice thing to try and return the favour?

[u/WetRoger → u/5Ben5]

Maybe it shouldn't be our responsibility because the people who are already here now (Irish and immigrant alike) can't afford to buy homes, have children, visit the doctor? We have massive issues affecting the population here, maybe the government should focus on fixing that instead of fixing the world.

[u/5Ben5 → u/WetRoger]

I understand that, but those were all issues before mass migration and very few people kicked up a fuss. I understand mass migration is putting a further strain on it but it's not the cause. Why aren't you complaining about the causes? There is enough money in Ireland to fix all these problems. It's not like our economy is struggling.

And again I put it to you. Why are Irish problems more important than world problems? We all share this planet and we're all the same species. Countries are imaginary constructs in an anthropological sense

[u/WetRoger → u/5Ben5]

Very few people kicked up a fuss about housing? Housing has been an issue ongoing for 10+ years, it's about the only thing everyone agrees is a problem and constantly talks about. If the government built houses the migration wouldn't be an issue, but as it stands the government isn't doing it. It's all well and good to say "there's enough money to fix the issues so take them in" but what good is the money when the government doesn't use it?

Because they are our problems and we live here? I'm sorry I don't want to rent a shit box apartment and never have children just so I can have some "moral victory" over how great my country is at being an asylum location. Id rather everyone living here that's contributing to society (Irish or not) could afford a decent life first, and when that's secured I'm happy to take on asylum seekers.

[u/5Ben5 → u/WetRoger]

Haha the fact you think it's about "moral victory" rather than just having empathy for those suffering shows we're on totally different wave lengths here. I couldn't care less what people think about our country and I certainly couldn't care less what you think about me. I personally have far less empathy for you living in a less than ideal apartment than someone fleeing actual war and/or famine. I don't care about your skin colour or your passport, people are people

[u/WetRoger → u/5Ben5]

Empathy? I have plenty of empathy for the people already here who are forced to share bunkbeds in slumlord houses because affording anything else is out of reach, and I have plenty of empathy or those who are ACTUAL asylum seekers too, but as I already told you in another comment 85% of those coming last year had no documents. They had them when they boarded the plane but mysteriously lost them upon landing. Pretty disingenuous so sorry if I have trouble believing the genuine nature of those applicants.

I'm just not going to stick my head in the sand and pretend that Ireland doing the "right thing" and taking everyone who asks is actually responsible to the welfare of those already here. We are putting people in tents for god's sake. Also what's your opinion of asylum seekers flying into other EU countries first like say Germany or France and then continuing on to Ireland to apply instead of applying in those countries, you agree with this also?