Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)

There are countries in the world where if you voice your opposition to massively destabilising levels of illegal immigration, you can and will be shot and killed. It does not appear to matter how respectfully or constructively you may seek to argue for stronger borders, national sovereignty, or just a decision to put your own people first.

Then there are countries in the world, such as our own, that have mercifully not reached this point yet, but that does not mean you will not be silenced in other less obvious or dramatic ways. Your image and reputation will be dragged through the mud. You may be called a threat to social cohesion. You will be portrayed as a villain out to undermine democracy and the unlimited so-called right of the entire world to arrive here on our doorstep, whether or not they have a passport – often they do not.

The facts are clear: the western world is being engulfed by unprecedented levels of public rage regarding the harms being caused by reckless immigration and migration policies. Time and time again the majority of our own people, when asked, express a clear desire to dramatically reduce the flood of people arriving here in the middle of a housing crisis. They are often ignored and vilified, treated as working-class scum. This untrue and unfair view that is often expressed is rampant in society. The view appears to be: how dare they upset any cosy consensus of the establishment and the establishment politicians who masquerade as friends of the ordinary working man and woman. There is a sickness within any political system that treats its own people with such unrelenting disdain.

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