Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputies Niall Collins and Christopher O'Sullivan. The vast majority of Irish people detest racism because they recognise that at its core, it has the persecution of and discrimination against certain groups of people because of the colour of their skin, their ethnicity or their nationality. It is important to point out that the Irish people are in a good position to speak about racism because for centuries we were the object of persecution and discrimination. It is important that we recall that for the purpose of seeing how we dealt with it and how we got to a stage where the persons who previously persecuted us are our friends. If one looks back on Irish history to the Tudor conquest in the 16th century, one can see that was a form of racist ethnic cleansing. If one looks at what happened with the Cromwellian campaign during the English Civil War, one sees another example of people being targeted and persecuted because of their ethnicity and nationality, namely Irish.

We can also learn from international history that the big bodies of work that institutionalised racism were both colonialism and imperialism. If one looks at places with the worst examples of racism, one sees that at the back of them there was a colonial power exerting imperial influence. If one looks at what happened to the people of Congo when King Leopold II of Belgium had influence over that territory, one can see the horrific consequences of such colonialism. We also need to recognise that in other parts of the world, the reason there are racism problems today is the impact of history on those societies. It may be said that imperialism did not play as significant a part in the history of the United States as it did in European and African countries, but the core of the problem that exists in the United States today is the history of slavery, segregation and institutional racism that existed there both prior to and after the American Civil War. It is deeply regrettable that some 170 years after the American Civil War, issues concerning racism have still not been adequately dealt with.

We also need to recognise that the two most powerful influences in our time, namely globalisation and social media, play a big role in promoting racism and also in standing up to racism. One of the benefits of globalisation and social media is that people are outraged when they see a form of social injustice, not just in their city or country but anywhere in the world. That is why so many Irish people went out to march against the persecution of black Americans by certain police officers, as was evidenced in the brutal killing of Mr. Floyd.

That is a positive influence of globalisation and social media, and social media contribute in the sending out of that message. Similarly, however, globalisation and social media can have a very negative impact because they allow racists - and they exist - to spread their hate online and to get into the minds of impressionable young people. Unfortunately, one of the consequences of social media is that people are now compartmentalised into different groups, and algorithms tell them what they should read after reading a certain article. This brings them further and further into more unacceptable and racist narratives. That is why we have to be so extremely careful that our young people are given a counter-narrative.

The State has an important role to play in combating racism. Racism exists in Ireland. I know that. We all know that. I know a young mixed-race couple who are subjected to vicious racism, not all the time but frequently, when they go out socialising. As the legislative body of this country, we have to ensure we put in place laws to stand up to racism. However, it is more than laws that are required to defeat racism; it is a culture. We need to recognise that racism is socially completely unacceptable, and once we do that we will defeat it.

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