Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The hate, fear and division the far right is peddling and trying to direct against vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees is utterly despicable, all the more so when one thinks that, for generations, hundreds of thousands of Irish people who emigrated, often illegally in the case of the United States, suffered the same kind of racist and horrendous victimisation. No dogs, no blacks, no Irishmen. Tabloid newspapers in Britain, owned by the right wing and the far right, created horrible stereotypes of the Irish being violent and drunken and terrorists or sexual deviants. That is the same sort of filth that is now being heaped by the far right onto desperate and vulnerable people who have come here looking for a better life and, in many cases, fleeing persecution, war and suffering. The filth of those on the far right has to be rejected. I encourage anybody inclined towards listening to their racist bile and the poison and misinformation they are trying to circulate to just consider our history. It is a shameful betrayal of the suffering that Irish people, along with people of colour, suffered for many generations.

The Government has set asylum seekers and refugees up for much of this targeting as a result of the way it has treated them. Putting hundreds of people out in tents, with no roof over their heads, is marking them out for the sort of victimisation that the far right has piled on them. Creating a distinction between Ukrainian refugees and asylum applicants sends a racist dog whistle that there is a difference between the two cohorts. The Government needs to acknowledge that. It should not be the case. Just like Irish people who went abroad, often illegally, contributed to the United States, Britain and so on, people coming here will, given the opportunity, work and contribute and enrich our society and make it better. Signals are often sent that these people are, somehow, something to worry about or a burden. That plays into the hands of the far right and must be acknowledged.

While rejecting the filth and racism of the far right and saying that we welcome the new arrivals, we must also recognise the frequent deprivation and lack of resources, particularly in more deprived working-class communities, that are the responsibility of the Government. Without giving an inch to the far right or any notions of vetoes or anything else, there is a need to recognise those failures and put in the resources, supports and funding that can help communities to provide the services, supports and facilities that will allow integration to happen successfully. I made the point to the Minister recently that the community recognition fund is a good idea but it is already maxed out. Those moneys should be allocated in advance. There should be proactive work by the Government to identify community groups, sports organisations and arts and cultural organisations and support them to actively deal with the integration efforts. The fund should be replenished immediately.

All roads lead to housing and accommodation in the context of these difficulties. There would not be so much difficulty or so much space given to the far right and the racists if we did not have such a severe housing crisis. For years, we have been saying on the housing and accommodation crises that much more aggressive and proactive action is needed on vacant properties. It is beginning to happen now but it is still a long way from being done. There needs to be much more investment and robust action, as well as a willingness to stand up to speculators and people sitting on empty properties to get those properties back into use so that we have housing for everybody, whether that is homeless people or asylum applicants fleeing persecution and war.

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