Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Racism should not be allowed to take root in our society. It is not inevitable and we must act to stamp it out, especially in our politics. Our equality laws prohibit discrimination against employees and customers based on several grounds, including race. The level of formal reporting of racist discrimination is not high but it would be a mistake to believe that means there is no racism in Ireland. On the contrary, from talking to organisations such as Migrant Rights Centre Ireland or Nasc, it is very clear that many experience casual racism as part of their experience of living in Ireland. People who are black or women who wear a Muslim headscarf are more likely to be singled out for verbal or physical abuse. Unfortunately, however, too many people have become used to experiencing low-level abuse and they do not routinely report it to the Garda or other authorities.

It is suggested that some minorities do not have confidence in public authorities to deal seriously with these incidents, which is something we need to address. The iReport website allows people to report racism but it cannot give us anything like a full picture of what is going on. The Police Service of Northern Ireland has detailed statistics on racist incidents. We should provide whatever resources are necessary to make sure the Garda has the same detail in our own official crime statistics in order that we can target responses in areas that are most affected.

Several reports have made it clear that racist incidents, including violence against ethnic minorities, are a real problem for our society. For example, Reports of Racism in Ireland was published by the Irish branch of the European Network Against Racism last year. It documents 256 incidents over a six-month period, including 23 assaults, 35 cases of ongoing harassment and 113 cases of online hate speech. This is the second highest level of incidents since the organisation began collating data in 2013.

Dr. Lucy Michael, lecturer at Ulster University, has found that the same pattern exists in Ireland as elsewhere regarding "extraordinary violence against minorities".

From 1998 until 2008, we had the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism. The Government of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, however, cut all funding to that agency, leading to its closure. We have perhaps been too complacent, as we did not seem to have the problems relating to racism and the far right that exist in other European countries and elsewhere. We clearly have a real problem with racism and it is about time we took it more seriously. One way to improve the situation, and to better hear the voices of the people directly affected, would be to restore a publicly-funded organisation to promote interculturalism and to challenge racism. The National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism received funding of €562,000 in 2007. If that modest level of funding could help make a difference, we should establish a similar body that could draw on international best practice for this kind of work.

Migrant workers play an essential role in the context of our economy and our public services. Unfortunately, many of those working for low wages are foreign nationals. There are groups of workers in agriculture, fisheries and food industries, and in hospitality, who are often employed on contracts which make them vulnerable and whereby their right to work is tied to a single employer. This means that they may not report abuse for fear of losing their right to work and live here. It is well known that in some industries individuals are blacklisted if they speak out and we have all heard of those cases. This is an issue which the Migrants Rights Centre Ireland, among others, has documented over time.

The Labour Party regards the exploitation of migrant workers as an example of institutional racism. As a society, we cannot turn a blind eye to sections of our economy in which most workers are migrants. If we are serious about stopping racism, we must end the exploitation of migrant workers. One in eight people living in Ireland was born in another country. These people are now part of our society. One in seven of our children and young people has one or both parents from another country, and one in 20 are visibly different because they come from African or Asian backgrounds. We should not make the mistake of assuming that everyone who looks a bit different is automatically a migrant. We have second, third and fourth generation Irish people, who just happen to have an ancestor who came from elsewhere, just as millions of people around the world have Irish ancestors. Ethnic diversity is a permanent feature of modern Ireland and it is something we should celebrate alongside our ancient traditions. My constituency of Dublin Fingal has a wonderful variety of people from all over the world. The mix of cultures and traditions makes a positive contribution to our society and our modern Irish culture.

Politicians from all parties need to take a leadership role in respect of diversity. Sadly, a new toxic racism has entered our politics. A candidate in the presidential election made disparaging comments about Travellers and then certain candidates in the recent by-elections also made comments. Some protests against asylum seekers have been orchestrated by small groups of activists rather than local people. We now have genuinely far-right political parties and individuals spreading all kinds of lies and misinformation that is toxic, racist and totally unacceptable. Outrageous claims have been made, including about Islamists having training camps in the Dublin Mountains. These obviously false claims act as a smokescreen to cover up other lies. One such claim is that all Muslims support Islamic terrorism, which is just outrageous. It is one that sticks in the minds of some people, however.

The recent by-elections have made it clear, I hope, that the public does not support racism entering our politics. Some countries have avoided the rise of far-right racist parties in their political systems. It is not inevitable, therefore, and it can be stopped. It is much harder, however, to get rid of these parties if they gain a foothold. The answer is relatively simple, because nothing is completely simple. If every political party in the present Dáil is genuinely opposed to racism, then we must agree two simple things. Firstly, we must have zero tolerance of any racist candidates in any of our parties and, secondly, we must agree that we will not co-operate with or normalise any political party or independent politician trading on racism or xenophobia. As public representatives, we must show leadership on the issue of racism, diversity and interculturalism and the best way we can do that is by freezing out all politicians who seek to bring racism and racist lies into our politics.

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