Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday we had a presentation before the Oireachtas justice committee about the issue of migrants in Ireland. I think the name of the organisation making the presentation was the Immigration Control Platform. The views being put to our committee were not popular with the committee. I said I would guarantee that when the committee's proceedings were reported on thejournal.iein the evening, the majority of the comments would be in support of the anti-migrant views being put forward. I was absolutely correct. They were overwhelmingly in support of the views put forward.

This country has a real issue of latent resentment of migrants. I do not believe Ireland is a racist country, but there is a significant fear of migrants, which is ironic given our huge history of emigration. My concern is that there is no record or CSO data on racist incidents. The overwhelming majority of racist incidents are not reported because, perhaps, the victims feel there is no point or that the issue was not serious enough. There is a hell of a lot more work to be done.

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