'Ireland is full! Anti-immigration backlash in Ireland | Documentary

I feel very threatened I am afraid to go out alone my Thorns won't let me go out alone Ireland's anti-

immigration

backlash

has escalated into riots across the country in recent months after a sharp rise in the number of foreigners arriving. on its shores unfortunately, I think Ireland is becoming the new Sweden. Protests, arson attacks and hardening anti-

immigration

views have given Irish politics a new perspective on the issues. How long are you going to stay here as long as it's necessary? Michael Murphy and I went to Ireland to take the telegraph to find out what the Irish think of the growing conflict.

I began my trip in Dublin, where hundreds of people attended an anti-immigration march. I just got fed up with the Irish government. I'm just sick of them, it's like a massive plantation. What they are doing here, there are so many unvetted men that are being brought to this country and planted around the school parks and we all feel very unsafe. We are worried about our children, we cannot support the large number of foreign people living within the border of this country, many of whom live on welfare because they were attracted here because of the flexible welfare. laws and immigration laws of the St take care of the thank you very much thank you very much take care of just playing with our heads all this government and I don't trust what is happening I just want I think they are puppets for other powers the elites, you know The Who and you know everyone else and possibly even King Charles, just someone else's puppets and don't care about our own people, we must defend ourselves, but the Irish and the long term.

Homeless people here from all over the world live and sleep on the streets, the council comes and takes their tents and burns their goods or throws them away and these people are on the housing lists for 20 and 30 years, but if you come here from a plane without a passport uh you're safe it's just not right so call and anyone listening to this call me what the hell you like little do I care? Thanks some people have described marches like this as far right, are you far right? I am a concerned father, I have three sons, I have two daughters and I have a son who is 11 years old and 7 years old, that is why I am here.

I hear the mainstream media does not report on what is really happening in these areas, there are kidnapped children. children assaulted, children raped, women raped and the mainstream media does not report on it to find out more about where the anger comes from. I went to a traditional Irish pub in the heart of Dublin to sit down with dissident journalist Ben. Scallan, the issue of immigration didn't really come up much in Irish politics. I think we're probably unique in that it's been a major election issue in the UK, in Germany, in the US, and across the Western world, as this conversation has been going on.

The Irish haven't really discussed it at the time of the election and now I think around 2019 or 2018 in that sort of period we saw the start of protests around moving asylum centers to local areas and I think that's just to a A significant increase that we were seeing was much larger numbers than we had previously experienced and why do you think the government has made the island's borders more porous and, as you said, rung the bell to, you know , asylum seekers and others? immigrants around the world I think the Irish government is mainly concerned with looking like a modern European country and they admire their European colleagues, they admire countries like the Scandinavian countries like Sweden etc, which are progressive and very modern, I guess if you want to put it that way That way, unfortunately, I think Ireland is becoming the new Sweden in a way because in the same way that people used to talk about Sweden several years ago, that it was this country that was totally off the rails, they have a total conflict. ghettoization, it seems that we want, having seen the failure of that policy in countries like Sweden and in countries like Germany and France, we want to replicate it for some reason that I don't really understand, the Irish government has detained refugees often at night and with little warning in towns like Ros gry, sparking local anger and demonstrations that lasted weeks.

I went to Ros gry, where locals have been protesting for 3 weeks outside the city's only hotel which closed last month after the government reached a deal with its owner to house over 160 Asylum Seekers, I'm here Firstly I am a mother and I am very very concerned about the level of migration that is happening in our town, we are one of the smallest towns in Tipper and we are 85% internationally protected. Applicants, that is a huge number for any city except a small city like Grass Gr that has no resources. We have more than a thousand ipas in the city.

There are only 5,500 residents in this city, which is a huge number to expect. Someone who confronts some people has said that, the city has changed in recent years, they are afraid to go out at night, the playground was left without children, no, no one wants to go there anymore, why? Well, I think a big part of the thing is and here again is the arrogance of the men who bring them to town, they don't provide them with any services, there are no recreational activities, so you have groups of 10 and 15 ipas standing around. around in groups, let alone, if it were 10 or 15 Irish men standing in groups, I would feel intimidated, but it is when you walk past a group of men and they say something to you in a different language. and you don't know what they're saying, it's obviously very, very intimidating, there are older women and men here who are not going to collect their pension on a Friday morning in the city because the post office outside the post office is where they meet.

Now, I'm not saying that these men might be, you know, they're probably really, really nice guys, but any group that gets together between 15 and 20 people is going to be intimidating, while the protests have been mostly peaceful, some have turned violent. , including in Dublin last year. year in which riots broke out after three young children and a woman were allegedly stabbed by a man of Algerian origin, we are here in Cookling, on the outskirts of Dublin, where, as you can see, G is parked behind me after An alleged arson attack on an abandoned nursing home that was supposed to house migrants last night is now one of more than a dozen arson attacks that have occurred in Ireland over the past year.

The Irish state has taken in more refugees than it can accommodate. , which has forced the government to offer asylum seekers, tents and sleeping bags when they arrived in Dublin since the Russian invasion, almost 100,000 Ukrainians have been offered refuge in Ireland. I spoke to a Ukrainian refugee outside an asylum processing center in Dublin. You've lived here in a tent for a month, yes. And how did he do for you? Well, you know, for me it was better to stay here because there are no bombs or soldiers. I don't live here. Okay, I have accommodation for about 7 months or so and now I have the right to work.

If I had received this access to the labor market, I would start working and well, I think in a month or two I will be able to REM something and what the Irish have been like. Have they been welcoming? The Irish are different in this area. The Irish were very, very kind, really, very kind. It's not downtown that had its needles and all those drug addicts and all that. It was a very quiet and welcome place, excluding the Ukrainians. The number of asylum seekers arriving in Ireland has skyrocketed. to over 26,000 in the last 2 years, a growth of almost 200% since 2019 to find out more about the increase in refugees arriving in Ireland.

I spoke to Jimo Callahan, an Irish lawmaker from one of the ruling parties, and I spoke to people in Ros gry. and other parts of the rural island, as well as in Dublin, people are concerned about unauthorized single men entering the country. Do you think it's a valid concern? Well, I can understand people's concerns, but when people come in, there is a rules-based system that operates in Ireland and I think one of the failings that we perhaps have as a government and that previous governments have had is that they don't We explain the system to people and, obviously, the issue that has been analyzed at this moment is the international protection system that corresponds to an EU. directive we transposed it into Irish law and the International Protection Act 2015 and listen, it states that a minister can remove a person seeking international protection if that person is perceived as a threat and obviously individuals come in and are also They take fingerprints.

Anyone who has convictions or who has been perceived as a threat can be removed, but you are right, some people are very concerned about the fact that what are known as unvetted men are moving into their area, but I think we should explain that that is not the case because when you look at the current system, the minister has powers to remove people who are dangerous or who pose a threat, we now hear a similar story in places like Ros Gray and other places about the government is making a sort of backdoor deal with a hotel or a company to house asylum seekers and not informing the local community or consulting with the local community in advance.

People feel that they are not in control of the future of their community and their livelihoods. What would you say? for people who have those concerns, it is a difficult issue for all concerns, obviously because of the significant numbers that have come in last year, the government must provide protected accommodation for people seeking international protection, that is our obligation, we It `s difficult. to do it as if there is no point in pretending that it is not difficult for us to do it and of course the reason is that in 2022 140,000 people will enter, we have seen 100,000 Ukrainians and there are more people entering in terms of Applicants for international protection we also have the obligation to providing them with shelter accommodation, so one of the reasons this is new in Ireland is that the government is trying to find alternative accommodation and that is why units like hotels are being looked at or are old. nursing homes and yes you are right it does cause concern in the local community especially if it is the only hotel in town but I must also say there are many other places in my constituency and across the country where people have come. and there have been no objections Dar O'Brien there are some TDS who have spoken out against immigration in the Irish Parliament six of them have formed a loose coalition called the independent rural group.

I sat down with one of her members Carol Nolan to hear her side of the story, well look, I've never seen the feeling so strong. I have been elected since 2016 for the doll and I have never seen feeling as strong on the ground on a particular issue as it is on the immigration issue. I feel that people will protest at the polls and I believe that if the government does not change direction direct quickly as I said before, they will be punished and I think we will see more independent candidates and more candidates who believe that we are all at an unsustainable level of immigration.

I think that's the representation that people want. Do you think immigration is fueling anti-EU sentiments in Ireland? It certainly is, yes, it certainly is. People feel like me. Look, I'm frustrated. I think there's more that the government could do in terms of response, like Hungary did and, as I say, Poland and other countries, there's more they could do. I believe they have a responsibility to represent the Irish people. not to do it at the EU level, but there is a lot of frustration because the EU dictates that you know everything a country should do, including the figures it should receive etc., so there is definitely frustration about that dictatorship as some people see it and You read a lot about the far right in Ireland, especially in recent years, is there a far right in Ireland and what does it look like?

I don't think, look, there may be a very small element, to be honest. I haven't met anyone who is far right. I have met grandparents who come to my office. I have met people from other countries. I have a good friend from Türkiye and she has expressed her concern about the numbers arriving. I have good friends from all over. all over the world they are not on the far right, um I haven't, but I think that doesn't mean there isn't an element there, um of course in these situations and these conditions you will get elements that will rise out of the night in the morning like fire.

As it has done across Europe, I think it is very important that Leo Vera's government says it can address issues around immigration with better messaging, stronger laws to censor what it considers hate speech, but the Irish public says that their concerns are legitimate, a view that is increasingly difficult to ignore as it gains political momentum is beginning to look like the government's visionIrish from an island that looks more like its European neighbors is becoming a multicultural country torn by populist revolt.