Ms Niamh McDonald:

I thank the joint committee for the opportunity to make a presentation on the topic of integration and refugee issues. The Far Right Observatory, FRO, is a national civil society organisation that works with community groups, advocacy groups, trade unions, activists and academics to stop hate organising in our communities and workplaces. We support communities and civil society to stay grounded, caring and resilient in the face of far right hate, bigotry and extremism. Our works is supported by Uplift, the Irish Network Against Racism, Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Migrant Rights Centre, SIPTU, Unite, Community Work Ireland, Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland, Transgender Equality Network Ireland, Pavee Point, the National Women's Council, academics and activists countering far-right extremism. This statement sets out critical and urgent steps to address and mitigate escalating hate, disinformation, polarisation causing harm, division and discord in our communities across Ireland. We want to bring three main points to the committee.

Digital platforms are the key mechanism driving hate, disinformation, and manipulation. Meta, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube are systematically failing to enforce their own community standards, including ignoring reported harmful content. YouTube, in particular, is assisting in the monetisation of protests and FRO has documented far-right entities using payment platforms to raise funds, such as PayPal, Stripe, GoFundMe and others. Algorithms drive the content people see, amplifying toxic and manipulative content that fosters engagement via shares, likes and views. The scale and speed of viral content circulating has been instrumental to amplifying protests and flashpoints, resulting in multiple violent incidents and escalation of vigilante mobs. This week, new research shows 78% of the LGBTQ+ community in Europe faced anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime or hate speech online in the five years up to 2020, and they are disproportionately affected by digital privacy violations. The Government must direct digital and payment platforms to apply their own community standards, alter algorithms, prevent monetisation, and hold these international organisations accountable for breaches and harm caused in the real world, in our communities.

The second point we want to raise is that a consistent and progressive narrative, reinforced by policies that advance measurable progress towards equality and inclusion, must define the Government's response in the face of threats. A primary goal of the far right is to destroy trust in mainstream democratic institutions. Politicians are baited into reactive positions, driving a chilling effect in mainstream politics, normalising reactive policies and debate, leading to delegitimising of human rights. The consequence is a self-perpetuating cycle of negative policy responses that seeks to appease perceived public discontent. Research shows clearly that the majority of people do not have fixed positions on virtually all issues and are persuaded by dominant narratives and how policies and responses are presented to them.

We call on the Government to invest in strategic communications support and avoid at all costs feeding a far-right narrative, including being seen to give preference to one vulnerable group over another, such as people from Ukraine versus people seeking asylum. We call on it to advance a whole-of-Government approach that responds with progressive policies to the very real problems being experienced and weaponised, including housing, energy, cost of living, safety and sex education in our schools. The list can go on.

The final point is that Government must equip local communities to respond effectively, recognising community engagement and community development as core to a prevention strategy and forming part of a broader accommodation response for people seeking refuge and people seeking asylum. The strongest bulwark against far-right attempts to polarise and cause division is strong community leadership and resilience. This needs to be led by a particular context in each community since each community is unique and only people within that community know that uniqueness and context. The issues can change, including housing for people seeking asylum, opposition to temporary accommodation, challenges to changes to school curriculums, and blocking 5G installation. They emerge and gain ground quickly, dominating the local media cycle and community narratives, quickly assuming to reflect the majority views and interests of the community.

The FRO has supported multiple rapid response incidents and has noted similar trends and patterns. A critical success factor is the capacity to mobilise community leaders quickly, engage cross-party political representatives and local media and provide guidance and strategic support when and where needed. The capacity to respond rapidly is critical and needs to be led by trusted community infrastructure. Rather than defining and imposing a one-size-fits-all approach or attempting to deliver through defined structures, a more responsive strategy is key. FRO is currently documenting best practice and learning of community-based responses. This best practice will be released in March 2023, so we are coming close to it. The Government must substantially resource community responses, including specific supports provided by trusted organisations, such as our colleagues in Community Work Ireland, which are capable of being quickly deployed when and where needed alongside dedicated support in each county. The Government must change its approach to the rapid accommodation of people, by engaging communities as core stakeholders, conducting resource analysis, and centring a rapid pre-planning process.