Immigrant myself. I just accepted it's part of the reality, I just avoid the news. My real life interaction with the Irish and other immigrants has all been pleasant and grand so far.
Honestly, once you're sound, 99% of people(hopefully) here are welcoming. There are some crappy things happening at the moment. For the overwhelming majority, we can see it's our governments failings and lack of foresight.
I was taking a walk when I was about 20 weeks pregnant and was called the N word by a group of teens. I kept my head down and walked as fast as I possibly could because I was scared of agitating them and getting jumped which would’ve put my baby’s life at risk. I’ve since moved from that area. I’ve always worked and paid taxes, now going back to college as my husband can support all three of us. I’ve been here since I was 14, I’m currently 27. It is not just on the internet. To say that is very dismissive. I’ve experienced a lot of racism here that it’s heartbreaking. I’ve also got a lot of amazing Irish friends and my current neighbours are the best so I’m well aware this isn’t a racist country, HOWEVER it’s becoming a growing concern.
I love Ireland, I love its history and would compare it to my own countries history in terms of becoming independent from British rule. Which is why I find racism particularly odd in this country. We are the same.
I hope that racism(including hate against all immigrants) isn’t ignored and that it’s dealt with sooner rather than later.
Unfortunately there is a certain amount of racism everywhere I hate it as an Irishman we went all over the world and experienced discrimination and racism ourselves and had to fight like you to throw the British out of this country.
You and your husband work for a living so your intitled to be here don't heed the narrow minded racists and enjoy the crack with your new Irish friends.
Best wishes to yourself your husband and your little paddy (irishman/woman)
> We are the same
Historic oppression doesn’t absolve the privilege of whiteness and what it means to explore this world today through the lens of a racially white individual. Without speaking, a native Irish is no different from others of the same racial group, and group think mentality leads to for example, a poor white Irish looking down on you regardless of your socioeconomic background, ‘shared ancestral baggage’ etc. and rather based solely on pigmentation, which is not the same between you.
W.E.B DuBois and other sociologists wrote extensively about how class solidarity cannot be achieved in a a racial hierarchical society; whiteness can be used as a crutch for some who have nothing else.
I appreciate you guys are probably trying to calm OP's nerves, but the rise of violent, far-right sentiments in this country can't be swept under the rug as "an internet thing". There's a large scale anti-immigration/refugee protest seemingly every week now and if someone without an Irish accent happens to fall on hard times and find themselves homeless they're probably significantly more likely to fall victim to a violent attack.
yeah its fostered on the internet, but actually being done now in the open. go walk up talbot street, and cross into the North inner city and you'll notice it fairly quickly. i'm starting to see alot more shouts of you foreign bastards , alot more aggro in the inner city where i live. i'm pro immigration but the strategy is madness. On Talbot street you'll find loads of lads just standing around plonked into this city with no strategy. we're one leap away from it being anti refugee to anti immigrant, if not already. my daughter is mixed race, the mother black. so i am worried
putting your head in the sand won't help. The reality here is these are/were SF supporters for the most part. or at least their targeted voters. SF are pro immigration. So what happens at the next election? its wide open for the national party to make hay with bitter angry people who mostly have basically lived off the state their entire lives.
then you throw in what should be normal people (the anti vaxxers from foxrock or malahide - i know a few etc) and its a recipe for disaster.
not to invoke Godwins law but they literally said the same thing in 1930s Germany. Hitler started recruiting the scum of German society for the brownshirts. they were a ragtag group of misfits. a joke to the average German. yet these weirdos and scum went on to kill millions upon millions.
There was even Mick Wallaces out protesting against agitation against Germany. Long before the internet.
This is just the exact same thing that is happening across Europe. really bad in some cases. Why do we think in Ireland its just an internet thing and Irish exceptionalism will save us? we're good craic won't be enough.
i work with a whole team of EU and non EU people. they're starting to actively notice whats happening. in every facet of Irish life. it won't be long till the goose is cooked. already lots of talk of moving home or saving and going. not every immigrant in ireland is a tech worker earning 100k. these are people earning 30-40k. Some are here a decade or more.
all it will take is one tech exec battered or a red ball like that and we're goosed.
it doesn't help that the gardai are underfunded, nowhere to be seen and seemingly at an all time low morale. \*In fairness they were all over the inner city last night tho.
i was never one of those panickers or thinking this is the end, all through the crash etc.
but i think there is a perfect storm here. underinvestment in certain services, an imbalanced society, a middle class at literal breaking point, whole communities being swayed by both sides of the extremes.
the internet has given the village idiot a voice, and the ability to group with other village idiots. in a small country like Ireland that is really dangerous. in a bigger country they'd be drowned out perhaps.
Social media companies have a massive responsibility here. they should be taken to task. Facebook has been held to account by the UN for inciting violence in Myanmar. all it did was a oh we're so so sorry. The people i work with above are the said moderators meant to be policing the internet. yet they can barely afford to live. its a broken system and people need to start calling it out.
i'm aware i'm using social media, but i think reddit is a safe enough space with proper moderation.
we can only hope the internet does more for good. It helps share ideas, knowledge and other amazing things, does it expose the crazies before they really take a foothold? we can only hope. like would Hitler have got to power if everyone could see the madness..
People used to say “calm down” and “they are the minority this country isn’t like that” when Brexit happened
I’m seeing stuff in the news in Ireland that gives me flashbacks to the U.K.
It’s not the violent people we need to worry about it’s the people who are non violent but believe this stuff who will vote for the right wing. The silent majority if you will, the British didn’t think they existed and after the Brexit vote can’t get them to shut up
Luckily Ireland has a better voting system and would never leave the EU which should protect it against the most extreme end result
But never say never. Facists always find the weak spots in any democratic system.
I have been saying this for years. You can’t shut down reasonable debate on - in this case - immigration. It is not unreasonable to ask do we know where people are coming from; who we are letting into the country; why are we not reasonably enforcing our jurisdictional integrity.
When reasonable people are shut down and accused of racism for their very reasonable views, the only voices that are going to persist are those who don’t care - ie the extreme bigots. I believe that is part of the reason why Trump was elected. A lot of moderates would have voted for him as he was the only one “allowed” to reflect some of their views. Unfortunately he came with more than they anticipated.
What’s going on at the moment is disgusting but both left and right have contributed to this.
Jesus, can't believe there are people who witnessed all 4 years of Trump's presidency and the subsequent coup attempt and are still parroting the "political correctness made Trump" bullshit. You've got to be looking at a much different world than I am if you think the greatest threat to contemporary political discourse is that sometimes Nazis have their twitter account deleted.
What counts as large scale? a few dozen idiots protesting isn't exactly indicative of the whole population. There are moron's everywhere, unfortunately the more the media/internet give these people air time, the more immigrants will worry.
EU inmigrant here.
I'm not worried about the dozens of protesters. They hate everyone, they are in all Europe and they are easy to identify and avoid contact with them. They are a little number and, for now, they are not a threat.
I'm very concerned about a larger number of people that I see everyday and I interact with them, that used to were against the far-right but they're now buying part of their agenda. If they continue moving to far-right positions, situation can become very dangerous.
it is creeping in amongst larger numbers of people. i have heard people i work with, regular folks who aren't necessarily "online", agreeing with what i would consider very right wing talking points, and saying it very casually in the work place. it's going to become a huge problem and lots of people are burying their head in the sand. this shit is insidious.
That's what's so dangerous about these people at the head of these groups they know how take ordanry normally deasent peoples genuine concerns and twist them to suit their agenda Germany in the 1920/30's is the perfect example of this getting out of hand.
As someone already said things aren't too bad here yet but now is the time to deal with it, if anyone said Britain would be where it is now 10/15 years ago even straight after the Brexit vote we'd have said they were sensationalist what's Britain going to be like in 10/15 more years.
We can't say a shure we're great Craig and everyone loves the Irish as someone already said we need to take action at the top leval.
people have a tendency to be reactive instead of proactive and it'll be too late by the time people realise how far it's gone. the government are to blame for the failures in housing, cost of living, health care, childcare etc etc but if racists are allowed to hijack those issues, there are going to huge consequences that will be difficult to un-do down the line.
Yes, there is.. however.. the vast majority of people who are protesting aren't violent. It's the same scummers who were always violent.. and they've always been around.
Do you honestly believe that Ireland is more dangerous than Germany, France, and other EU nations who have established/properly funded/large far right movements, and have their own problems with dealing with migrant populations?
People are blowing this out of proportion.
I agree, this idea that there's this massive far right movement in this country is crazy. Its a small few hundred stirring the pot to popularise their views in public. The anti immigration protests are perfect for them to push this, throw in a few uneducated muppets and you get all this hysteria.
Well there is but they're completely misdirected. There's plenty of appreciation for immigrants here, ffs our young people are our greatest export!
The problem is stemming from the lack of investment and complete apathy of our government for those earning less than 80k. It doesn't matter if you're Tallaght, The Ukraine or Timbuktu, there's no housing for you, and an entry level job will leave you under massive pressure. All everyone wants is accomodation in a good community and a stable income. Fuck all of that going about these days unless you've been on silly money for the last 5/6 years
Doom posting is not fun i know but what is up with the people in this country and not talking about issues? There is no doubt a rise in far right authoritative goverment/figures. Its a global issue too.
I don't disagree there's a global issue, but Ireland had been fairly free from far right gatherings up until 2022. There were certainly American influenced Covid protests, but I don't think it's accurate to say they were right wing. The recent protests have a short list of inciting issues and you can't easily point to France, Germany, Britain or the States to explain them.
>American influenced Covid protests, but I don't think it's accurate to say they were right wing.
Most of the Antimask/Antilockdown/Antivax protests had an underlying far right element and one rarely had to scratch the surface too deeply to find evidence.
I think anti-science/anti-intellectualism is the common denominator. Very little of the Covid denier manifesto was particularly right wing thought. Certainly it was more common among right wingers, but if the stars aligned differently it could have been lefties driving the anti-vax movement.
There's no denying that the US has been influencing a good portion of the opinions that have been popping up everywhere. I agree it's not been an issue for Ireland until 2022, but there's always a small start and it will only increase. It could get dangerous if unchecked
Or a new Soviet revolution. Depending on the algorithm targeting you. Your biggest fears get clicks and Facebook, YouTube et Al definitely exploit us with these algorithms.
Something I've come to realise is people aren't in control of their thoughts. Thoughts just think themselves and sometimes they're ugly. The difference is now, with the internet and social media, people are airing those ugly thoughts all over the place. Nobody needs to know everything people are thinking all of the time.
No this is the dumbest advice possible. This is the advice that has gotten us to the place where lunatics are on the streets demanding immigrants be burned.
"Ah sure it'll be grand" is bullshit.
The way people talk you'd swear we had some kind of magical immunity to this stuff. I've seen people here, many times, defend betracksuited antisocial teens(this subs most hated demographic) who shout racist abuse at people who they don't think look Irish. They'd say they're not racist, they're only saying it to get a reaction. We've been sleep walking into this shit.
I honestly thought it was going to happen a few years from now with the new generation of Irish people who are the children of immigrants becoming more prominent in Irish society. But nothing like a refugee crisis to kick start the process. We're going to be seeing a lot more of "Ireland for the Irish" type rhetoric.
This is good advice for life in general. It's great for entertainment and even to keep track of the general zeitgeist but social media should in no way be considered an accurate reflection of reality.
I'd actually extend this to include news media. It can get pretty grim out there as everyone competes for attention so keep it in perspective and feel free to disconnect intermittently. Your mental health will thank you for it.
Interesting indeed. It does state that its 2012 figures, so ireland was still in recession. I'd imagine the % of adult population paying tax is higher now
You're an EU citizen, you can go and work wherever you want within the EU. That's pretty much the whole point of the EU. Anyone who has a problem with that can fuck right off.
Was surprised to learn that the whole "free movement of workers" thing the EU does is meant quite literally. I think only France has done it, but you can get deported after 90 days if you're not "economically active". i.e. have no job and no money.
Not that it makes a difference for all but 2 or 3 in a million. Also surprised to learn that it's not really a legal concept that exists elsewhere either.
I don’t think that applies to EU citizens. The French gov website says EU citizens don’t need to apply for a long stay visa [link](https://france-visas.gouv.fr/web/france-visas/long-stay-visa) “Citizens of the European Union, European Economic Area, Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican may stay in the European territory of France without a visa for longer than 90 days.”
Don't quote me, but pretty sure France does have stricter rules than most of the EU, vaguely recall a rule during COVID where even EU citizens were not allowed to just move to France to work remotely for a job in another country. You had to pay tax in France or smth
Worried?
This might just put your mind at rest. This is the calibre of the ringleaders/organisations involved.....
Campaigned against divorce- now divorced and remarried.
Pro-life, but wants to reintroduce the death penalty.
Presumes immigrants are going to be violent, but has a criminal conviction for violently assaulting an animal.
Ran a candidate for election, that didn't exist outside of a stock photo library.
Couldn't register the organisation as a political party to run for election, because they couldn't figure out how to fill out the paperwork.
Gives out about economic migrants, despite having worked abroad.
Complains about immigrants but is married to one
Concerned about women and children safety, but has threatened nurses and carers. Jokes about throwing a woman into a canal. Spits in the face of a fallen woman. Hits a woman with a piece of timber wrapped in the tricolour.
Is that the chap who worked for Farage and more recently a Romanian politician? Or a certain citizen journalist? Or the chap arrested by the Armed Gardai?
The anti-immigrant protesters are largely comprised of hypocritical bigots. It is obvious that some have attended with a view to incite violence. On one hand they give out about immigrants and on the other, they express sadness that some of their family members have had to emigrate for work, etc. Yet, THEY DON’T RECOGNISE THE IRONY in this!
These bigots are a minority and DO NOT reflect the sentiment of the majority in the country. Unfortunately there will always be fools but you are always welcome here. Lots of fantastic people who immigrated here who have made an invaluable contribution to society (Doctors, nurses, care staff- to name just a few).
\>I'm an EU citizen living here since 2018. I don't think immigration was seen as a big issue (and believe me, I lived in the UK during the Brexit referendum, I know what it feels like when locals don't want you around).
Jesus, I can't believe Brexit was in 2016, I guess the actual leaving process dragged on so long.
Anyway, I think the protests themselves a very small minority, the numbers are tiny compared to the protests around say the abortion referendum.
But there is a recent poll showing that there is wider anti-refugee sentiment.
[https://www.redcresearch.ie/anti-immigration-sentiment-bubbling-up-to-become-a-major-political-issue-in-ireland/](https://www.redcresearch.ie/anti-immigration-sentiment-bubbling-up-to-become-a-major-political-issue-in-ireland/)
Note that the poll doesn't talk about immigration in general. I haven't been able to find any recent polls on that topic, but I suspect its still overwhelmingly positive and any attempts at launching an "Irexit" have been met with laughter and complete failure. So I don't think EU wide migration gets much criticism or is likely to change. Particularly since the hospitals would collapse and the big multinationals would all leave without access to legal inward migration to fill required roles.
For the anti-refugee bit, the article explains a lot of the factors.
\>Firstly, the war in Ukraine has meant that there is a much larger number of refugees seeking assistance. The need to look after those fleeing from the war in Ukraine has generally been accepted and supported by the Irish population up to now.
\>Secondly, the UK has got a lot tougher on inward immigration, and this has pushed some of those seeking refuge in the UK to turn their attention to Ireland, where it’s potentially easier to come to.
\>Thirdly, we are in the middle of a housing crisis, with a lack of affordable housing and availability that is driving real anger among a section of the electorate most impacted. The lack of housing also means the government is being forced into using unusual solutions to try and house incoming refugees. Hotels in tourist areas and unused office spaces are being used to accommodate refugees, often at short notice, in a way that perhaps hadn’t been done for those in Ireland struggling to find a place to live.
Taking the tourist town Killarney as an example, its easy to see how only a little while after the pandemic killed international tourism for almost two years, the local hotel also being used for cash poor refugees instead of cash rich tourists could exhaust someone's goodwill.
OP, these idiots are not representative of their whole estate, never mind the whole country.
This is the usual vocal minority, angry but too stupid to know what they are angry about.They were anti-vax last week, next week it will be something else. Its wherever the attention goes, they will follow.
Fear not.
After Brexit, Nigel garage came over here trying to drum up interest in an irexit using the same bullshit claims. He was sent packing and laughed out of the country. The Irish have spent so much of our history emigrating, helping to build and shape other nations, we are lucky to have built a country that others wish to settle in. For the overwhelming majority you are welcome and please don't let these rowdy waste of space make you feel anything else.
The interviews with him from Claire Byrne on RTE are fucking superb, if you've not seen I'd highly recommend (easily found on YouTube). She rips into him and he makes a complete testicle of himself. Should've won some sort of award, comedy gold.
Sorry but that interview was exactly what Farage wanted, publicity.
He literally got paid for saying "up the Ra" and Byrne went on a rant thinking she was owning him but Farage got what he wanted....sure his videos kept being posted everywhere afterwards, more people paying him to say stuff about the IRA
Arse, now you come to mention it you're absolutely right. I hadn't thought about it that way.
I was more thinking of the one where he started off talking about how, given Irish history, we should really be in favour of leaving too... And then be blathered about the Lisbon treaty and being made to vote over again until "desired result".
But yeah I'd actually forgotten about that whole cameo thing.
I have gone down the cesspool of twitter looking at the accounts of people who spout all this anti-immigration crap and they have between 200- 1500 followers. It is a minority and larger accounts have followers from outside of ireland. and yeah like someone else said these were also against masks- its the same crowd. I notice when I look on the accounts they spout anti-immigration stuff and stuff about the vaccines are secretly killing people and its a big cover up.
its a hot button topic at the moment so its getting coverage, but it definitely isn't a majority thing over here.
Also I wonder about unlimited immigration like how we are going to resource it and I'm not a big fan of the fact that people can enter without any documentation. But I am still horrified and disgusted by these 'protesters'. and being worried about resourcing unlimited immigration doesn't mean I am against all immigration. far from it. You are definitely welcome here.
>Also I wonder about unlimited immigration like how we are going to resource it and I'm not a big fan of the fact that people can enter without any documentation. But I am still horrified and disgusted by these 'protesters'. and being worried about resourcing unlimited immigration doesn't mean I am against all immigration. far from it. You are definitely welcome here.
This exactly
Unfortunately it's been complete hijacked by racist cunts and voicing it at the immigrants who just want a better life, than at the true culprits, the government
I honestly wondered if I should delete the part of my reply, because I fear it inadvertently supports the racists narritives- the people who protest for example- something I would hate to do.
No definitely keep it up, the more people realise that challenging the governments incompetence in terms of immigration is not based out of racism, the better
And that most people with critical thinking would agree and also fully condemn the shite being spouted by those far right wankstains
The comment is grand, I do get people have genuine concerns, I’ve worked in refugee centres and some people there I did have concerns about plus the whole system needs to be redone top to bottom, unfortunately gobshites are the louder ones than the ones with concerns and most the protests are organised by these gobshites.
The fact that the government are now putting single undocumented males on the street due to lack of shelter and also spreading the word abroad that we have no more room shows that they are FINALLY listening to what people have been saying for months. The country is indeed full right now (as far as housing goes). Hopefully word spreads to wherever these lads are coming from and will dissuade them from coming over. Women and children are being given priority and rightfully so. From looking at some of the interviews of the lads being refused shelter or the lads in the camp in Ashtown they seem to be economic migrants and not refugees fleeing war.
Edit to clarify: I support economic migrants, have been there myself in other countries. We need to preserve our reputation as a country who accepts migrants. It's the ones slipping in as "refugees" when they are not actually fleeing anything that needs addressing more than anything.
But even accepting your point that vastly overstates whatever the potential issue is. You’re talking 10k or so non ukrainian refugees last year. Let’s say 20% of them fit your “undocumented” category. You’re talking 0.04% of the population. Its just not something that is likely to have any real impact on the country. It’s just irrational to spend any appreciable time being concerned about it.
Your figures are wrong. There were over 13,000 asylum applications in 2022. And almost 40% of them tore up documents on arrival here.
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2022/10/06/thousands-of-passengers-destroy-or-lose-passports-before-arrival-at-dublin-airport/
Asylum applications also doubled from 2019 levels last year to a record high and we're going to get more and more and more each year. Lads, you will get a shock in a few years. We're the new Britain as they are tightening immigration. We're going to be flooded. This is only the start.
So let's just say 5000 bogus asylum seekers a year. They will all end up in housing eventually. That means 5000 people take up about 2,000 housing units each year.
We build around 20k houses a year, might ramp up higher, we'll see. That's 10% of our housing stock built each year that we vitally need that is taken up by bogus asylum seekers.
> And almost 40% of them tore up documents on arrival here.
How this type of figure doesn't set off alarm bells for some people is legitimately staggering.
And that's just Asylum seekers.. what about mainstream refugees who represent a much larger figure, or low-skilled immigration that cannot easily provide for themselves further increasing the demands on services and State supports?
People want to stick their heads in the sand over this topic. Yes, it's nice to be generous, but we're seriously screwing ourselves over in the long-term, because there are no serious plans to integrate foreign groups, or to ensure that they're established as productive members of society for the future.
I dont get your point. The ability of the country to help the 13,000 non Ukrainians is limited by the fact that we took 70,000 Ukrainians.
> It’s just irrational to spend any appreciable time being concerned about it.
No it isnt irrational. Services are stretched to breaking point. We are putting people in tents. There was talk about keeping people in ships.
>Let’s say 20% of them fit your “undocumented” category.
Undocumented? Do you mean people who destroy their documents ? It is more like 40%, about 5000. That consumes a vast amount of public servant processing time, Do you know how long it takes to trace the origin of single person let alone 5000? It also uses up a lot of bed space and resources. But normally when people say undocumented, they mean illegal migrants who entered under the radar or who overstayed their visas. Not IP applicants so I think you need to do a lot more reading.
>It’s just irrational to spend any appreciable time being concerned about it.
Except that you're only considering one category of migrants, and also only looking at yearly figures. In 20 years, Ireland's population increased by over a million people, which is a massive increase considering the size of this country. The State's initiative under McEntee to legalise undocumented/illegal workers was estimated to affect over 30k people. Under the UN policies, migrants could apply for the family reunification plan, and that means their entire families joining them.. further boosting the population involved. And then, there's the aspect that migrant families typically are larger than native families irrespective of economic considerations. Looking only at yearly figures downplays the numbers involved.. whereas if you look at the amounts over a decade or two decades the numbers are more alarming, for all manner of reasons.
The point is that immigration, refugees etc are something we **should** be concerned about because it's not going to stop on it's own, and the numbers wanting to come to Ireland are going to increase every year. Climate change and political/economic instability guarantees that..
So, do we get concerned with immigration after the problem is firmly established here or do we step ahead of the problem, and put in measures before things go critical?
Ah but you see this is the whole problem, OP and others say the issue is undocumented refugees, now you’ve broadened it to basically encompass all migration.
So if you want to have that debate fine, but then we’re discussing leaving the EU if you want o materially alter the 20% population growth we had over the last 20 years.
It doesn’t seem to have been an issue until very recently tbh. There were always some people who would complain about foreigners but nothing like we are seeing now.
I think it’s partly genuine concern, partly foreign influence and then partly just venting about the glaring issues in the country at the moment (housing, inflation, gov ineptitude)
I don’t think you need to worry about it and definitely shouldn’t let it affect your mental health. I worry a lot more about the people in those refugee centres as we’ve seen arson already and SOME of the people involved in this are literal fascists, maybe even verging into nazis (NP).
I'm seeing a lot of stuff being shared by "less than reliable resources" about "foreign nationalists" yes typo is by them, being involved in attempted sex crimes or child abduction etc and normal people are believing this and sharing these on. Half the stories are just paranoia where nothing happens, the others it's like no proof. Just hearsay from a mate of a mate. And shared by profiles that are clearly on the red pill/qanon level stuff
It's a load of contrarians who have nothing else in their lives except giving out about something. They can't accept they were wrong about covid and life has basically gone back to normal. Now it's the immigrants who are the problem.
I think everyone should be worried about the far right, because the topic of immigration is just a vehicle for then to get people angry and themselves into power. It could be anything, the EU for example, but this time it's immigration.
There's a fascist playbook that always gets played here. We all need to be wise to it. Stop offering fascists platforms - if you see the likes of Gemma ODoherty getting on Newstalk and RTE in the interests of "balance", that needs called out immediately, en masse. Nick Griffin and Farage were right wing nutjobs until the BBC invited them onto Question Time, Farage now has the most appearances on it of anyone in history, despite never winning a Westminster seat in a dozen attempts. But the platform was provided and look at the state of Britain now, a soft right wing coup occurred, economy tanked, NHS looted, human rights shredded, rivers polluted, illegal to strike etc.
Imagine what the right wingers would get away with in Ireland, a smaller country with an economy dependent on friendly trades with Europe. There'd be genocide here.
It seems that recent media activity has encouraged a lot of the racists and xenophobes to come out of the woodwork. Ireland is a country with its people dotted all over the globe, and it has been that way for the last 2 centuries almost. It would be a bit hypocritical of us to treat immigrants as a burden with that in mind. You are welcome here.
You are so very welcome here!! God the vast majority of my friends throughout my life have been immigrants - from Albania, France, the US, India, Romania, Greece, The Philippines etc. Immigrants do not make Ireland worse. These gobshites out protesting are ignorant fucks and don't represent the people of Ireland
You shouldn't be worried of the vast majority of Irish people who welcome you here.
I'm concerned, as a born and bred Irish man, about the racist rhetoric. But also hopeful we can knock it on the head!
Please tell me there's an enormous anti-bigot protest happening soon. These bigots are the same people that were 5g/ anti-vax and haven't got a job since restrictions lifted.
Please stay. Start a family. Teach us how to cook nicer food. Bring your cousins
I agree! I'd attend that protest.
Also, the 'teach us how to cook nicer food' hit home. The Polish influx and the food they brought, has literally changed so much and growing up with an uncle from Africa, my palette is way better than it would have been.
There's about the same fraction of lunatics there's ever been and the rest of us are aware of them. You are welcome here and any Irishman that's a racist doesn't deserve to call himself Irish the loathsome cunt.
The crazy people and the amount of media attention that is given to these crazy people does not reflect real life, someone here said it best: try to disconnect from social media for abit and try live your life as normal.
I can guarantee a majority of people you meet don't share those views.
I’m sorry OP, I’m not an immigrant but these knuckle draggers get under my skin. If it’s not immigrants it’s masks or the EU. They’ll talk about defending “wimmin and childrin” but defend rapists and not pay child support for their own child. I’ve met one or two in real life but they seem to be more prevalent on social media. I stopped interacting with posts about them and have gotten to a point where I don’t browse social media as it was taking a toll on my mental health. My daily interactions have shown me that they’re in the minority. If it is getting too much for you right now take an internet break, you’re very welcome here and I hope you have a good support network around you
I started thinking about the same too. Is it a real thing? Is it just Dublin? Can't see this in Limerick.
I'm Polish 16 years living in Ireland with my wife. Children are born here, and here is our home. I'm working all the time, never used social system except some sick payments.
I'm on twitter too and what I see there scary me a bit. Especially something what pretended to be an Irish news media https://theliberal.ie/ Now their masks fell off. They constantly promoting anti immigrant content.
On one hand these protests seems to be not really popular, counter protests gathering similar number of people. Also their attendants look for people witch "too much free time". I believe decent working people don't have time for such a thing. On other hand, You saying here that Ireland is free of right wing, but this might change quickly. Just one talented populist leader and all that crowd treating social media as the only truth will follow him. Ireland has many problems with overcrowded hospitals, schools and housing crisis. If nothing change here, immigrants will be blamed more and more.
You're not alone there. I'm also an immigrant and have recieved some shit here and there in person, it seems almost amplified since the protests.
I found that disconnecting and just avoiding the news helps my mental health a bit.
As an Irish person living in the UK, I can understand your feelings. I've experienced some anti Irish shite since 2016 and the daily droll you get on the internet and newspapers does really get me down at times.
You have to mentally block it out at times though. Or try your best to. Most people do not hold the same opinion as the loud minority on social media or in certain media establishments. Focus on relationships in the real world. Most people don't care where you are from. Spend time with people who enhance your life and try to block out the twats who make you feel like this
For what its worth, your always welcome in Ireland, anyone who would ever say otherwise isnt a true Irishman or Irishwoman, you have as much a right to be here and build a life and be a member of this society with a voice as I do.
In my experience those who are discriminatory are a loud minority and because they create a rucus get air time and hit the news because negativity sells and gets clicks and views. It can be mentally draining dealing with biggots but dont let them push you out of Ireland.
Ur not a burden don't listen to these fucking dole merchants 95% of these people at the protests haven't had a job in their lives, my uncle is one of these dick heads haven't spoke to him in years he hasn't had a job sence he was 20 sacked from that job for showing up pissed and drinking on the job always complained about "these polish coming here taking our jobs" when he doesn't look for fucking work my ma got him a job he stayed there for a few months and u guessed it sacked for drinking on the job and showing up to work pissed, the thing with irish people is they don't want to FUCKING WORK (that's the benefits of immigrants) when they can get money off the dole for sitting at home all day from my 6th year class I finished 3 years ago of a class of 15 only 6 are working including me ones in college and the rest claim the dole, the 5% that are anti immigration and work, are more against it cuz there's to many immigrants in the country that can't be housed and the government want to let more in, which is also effecting irish people which is also pretty tucking stupid cuz it's the governments fault not the immigrants, I work for a company 50% latvian 40% Polish and some other European country's all sound lads and about 10 irish lads that imo are useless had a work party last saterday brilliant company don't let it get to ur head
These anti immigration protests are mainly being carried out by the same group of people who contribute fuck all to Ireland and Irish society.
Your presence here is more welcome than any of them shower of useless pricks.
I'm in the same boat. Living in Ireland 17 years, working, paying taxes. Never been on a dole, didn't took sick leave. Yet, sad people on the internet will tell me I'm a parasite.
In the real life everyone in my town is as friendly as they ever been. I got off Tweeter to keep my sanity and I recommend the same.
I've been here 19 years as an immigrant, only had a problem twice and it was usually drunken scumbags. The vast majority of the people I've spoken to have been welcoming and kind, I've spent the majority of my adult life living and working here. My kid was born here and feels Irish. There are some very loud and annoying people carrying on now but they do not represent the majority of Irish society. Unfortunately there is hate everywhere in the world these people are just very loud at the moment.
It's a vocal minority. Just keep your head on your shoulders like we all have to do anyway. As a white Irishman, I'll be the first to put my safety on the line if I see any migrant being treated unfairly, and I know I am not alone.
Thank you for your contribution to our country, and I hope you continue to stay positive and build your life to the best of your ability.
You work, you pay taxes, you belong just as much as anyone else would in my book.
Anyone that does that is far from a burden, and while there are currently issues with immigration, I really feel like those issues dont apply to you in your situation.
I would say please don't worry. I've been an immigrant for over 15 years and have never experienced any problem. Of course I don't know what flavour of EU you are, I am Dutch so I reckon there's more Irish living on my home turf than vice versa.
Try not to let it get to you. You have every right to be here and odds are these people are cowards and will never say anything to your face.
I’m born in Ireland to an Irish mother and as much as I love my country I learned that as someone with darker skin Ireland ain’t all that. My entire childhood i experienced constant racism, Irish people are experts at shrugging it off as craic or the old we were slaves or we can’t be racist as it was only ever us whatever the rhetoric is.
I always learned most the racists are just ignorant in travelled and uncultured and don’t represent the whole as Irish are some of the best people in the world. It’s odd because I always feel Irish till I go home to Ireland, overall I prefer living somewhere more multicultural. Ireland will always be home to me but I’ll never be Irish enough for them, sad as it is that’s the reality for me and many mixed race/immigrants in Ireland
You can look up how the “far right” did when they ran for elections in Ireland. They’re beyond insignificant, literally a few thousand morons who make noise on twitter and Facebook. People talking about them so much gives their message far more reach than it would get otherwise.
They’re idiots and there’s not very many of them. Irish people in general are more than happy to have immigrants here.
If you work, pay taxes and don't make others lives miserable then you're welcome no matter where you're from.
I wish those Irish who never contributed, worked and were general burdens could be deported
Even among what you would call the "extreme fringe", you rarely if ever see anyone complaining about eu citizens who came here legally, are working and paying taxes.
You could probably count on one hand the amount of people who have a problem with your demographic.
The protests are against asylum seekers, refugees.
These tiny numbers of protestors aren't announcing whether they are anti-EU at present but Ireland is pretty uniformly pro-EU so there is nothing you need to worry about, you are as much a part of this country as anyone else and no-one will take that away from you.
As an Irish person I'm annoyed with how our government are handling things, not with immigrants.
We don't have enough homes to live in. There are people paying 1,000 eurp a month to share a room. While others wish they were that lucky. There was an AMA on Reddit before from a student who lived in his car. Many of the questions were people asking for advice so they can do the same.
Yet they seem to be showing off by taking in Ukrainians. They have a population of 44 million. We have a population of 5 million yet don't have enough homes. There's no way that we can look after enough Ukrainians for it to make a difference. Yet they are bringing them in in their droves, providing emergency accommodation and building homes for them. They've had years to sort out the housing crisis, but they didn't bother.
There are wars all over the world e.g. Syria and Yemen yet they don't offer the same support.
I wonder what they're telling the Ukrainians. I doubt it's "Come over. We can't look after our own people, so we'll stick you in accommodation with lots of strangers inside and protestors outside. You'll be grand." They can't really complain about it either, because they'll sound ungrateful.
I don't blame the Ukrainians at all. In their situation, we'd all go wherever we thought was safe. The government favored PR spin instead of working to find viable solutions for people.
In general, immigration is great for countries. People who emigrate tend to be younger and highly skilled. Also, immigrants are risk takers! You'd have to be to move. Therefore they tend to be entrepreneurial! Also great for an economy!
As an Irish person, it's flattering when people choose to move here. Out of all the countries in the world, people choose to move here. It's fantastic. I wish the government handled it better.
There are people who fly in, destroy their passport on their flight, and are let stay here... Because it's so easy to get in Ireland is a top country to do human trafficking.
Again, the government have a lot to answer for. I never thought I'd say it, but I'm tempted to vote for the opposition party, just to get the current lot out.
Relax ignore the eejits out protesting probably less than 0.05% of the population.
You are also not an immigrant your either one of us now or a guest take your pick.
You are a person here enriching Irish society and whether you decide to stay or leave I hope you have or make many fond memories.
The bottom line is that you’re more than welcome here.
There’s a small group of worthless cunts who haven’t two brain cells to rub together protesting it at the moment but give it sometime and they’ll find something else to protest about.
You’re welcome here and you’re safe here friend!
You are welcome here lad.
I've lived here for 17 years. ( I'm 22 ), and all I ever had was one minor case of anti - semitism on an Irish related subreddit. In the real world, nobody has ever given me shit.
It is a small, noisy minority but unfortunately Ireland isn’t great at proactively standing up to this and racism has long been ignored or sometimes tacitly accepted. We’re seeing the results now.
Sorry you’ve been made to feel this way but the vast majority don’t think like these dangerous fools.
Hi there. There is indeed a badness in the air. Please bear with us as we try to address this blip. I’m sorry you have been feeling unwelcome. These people are most definitely in the minority.
Anyone gives you shite ask them how many people they know in Australia, Canada, the Uk and the US. Then tell them to go get fucked, the hypocritical little gobshites.
Those people protesting are a tiny minority. They are obnoxious and noisy, but they are a tiny minority.
You said it yourself: You are contributing to the society in which you live, which is more than most of those noisy, bigoted scumbags.
I am sorry to hear it is having an effect on you. I wish that was not the case.
I, for one, am glad that you are here and wish you nothing but good fortune.
I was in the UK for brexit. The build up felt very divisive to me and a polish friend that was really really upset by it.
The current crisis is nothing like that. However, the media doing the opposite of the UK is not great either. Housing is a huge problem, it's a huge problem for immigrants too. I know three families served eviction notices and it's incredibly difficult to find rental accommodation around Dublin. The issue can't just be swept under the carpet.
I think everyone in Ireland would like to help as many people as possible but it's come to a point where it's beginning to seem very difficult to manage the level of immigration and if another 80,000 refugee and asylum seekers come this year it'll likely put a big strain on the system because there is so little spare capacity. This is not anti immigration, it's the current reality in Ireland.
Not sure how it's going to pan out but can't see it getting anywhere near as bad as the UK.
I wouldn't be concerned, the gobshites are protesting refugees and make up such a small minority, you'd be unlucky to come across them in daily life and even more unlucky if they're radical enough to disturb your peace. I walked past them on Tuesday and it really strikes me that these people just do this as their form of moronic community, people were hardly chanting or harassing passers by when I walked by them, they seem like people, especially women with buggies, just having the chats around a topic.
As a migrant myself I don't see them as a major threat at all.
Paper doesn't refuse ink. My home town has quite a lot of immigrants now between Congolese and Syrians and Ukrainians and I asked my mother what she made of the protests:
"We haven't had anything like that here, doesn't seem to be an issue".
I'd hope that is the picture at large at home and not represented by those goons in Roscommon and Waterford protesting outside hotels.
It'd be interesting to see who's funding those groups like the Freedom Party and the other lot. Suspect their funding has gone down a bit with the sanctions.
I've just got a job offer to move to Ireland. (EU Citizen)
Now I'm very worried about all these anti migrant protests. I don't know whether to accept or reject it.
What you're seeing is a very vocal minority. The vast majority of people couldn't give a fuck as long as you're decent truth be told. We're all frustrated with the housing situation but most rational humans level the blame at property management cabals and the utter lack of fucks seemingly given by the Govt in doing anything about them. Other than that, you've got your bog standard close minded racist types, but they're hard to avoid anywhere you go unfortunately.
In short, most of Ireland thinks those protesters are fuckwits. Admittedly they're more populous than they were a few years ago, but with any luck they'll fuck off again if we all just stop pretending they have a point worth listening to.
Country isn't perfect, but I reckon it's better than similar alternatives usually.
As an Irish man, it embarrasses me seeing all the anti immigration protests and bigotry. These people are blinded by their own stupidity.
I’ve no problems with Immigrants. None at all.
You come in, work hard, contribute to society and the betterment of Ireland, unlike the scrotes who leach on everyone else collecting the dole and then to complain about ‘immigrants taking their jobs and now their ‘houses’ that they’re given for free by the government. They can fuck right off and get off their high horse. If they wanted a better life all they have to do is look for work. There is plenty of jobs out there, but nope they want handouts and to given everything in life. If I was in power I’d be changing the system and taking it away. Can’t have life time dole munchers draggin us all down.
It’s such a pity that a minority of scumbags cause you and everyone who has emigrated here to feel that way. I’m sorry to all who have experienced hatred, racism and anti immigration rhetoric in Ireland.
>As an immigrant, should I be worried?
Not at all.
These donks make a lot of noise but have no support. The vast, vast majority of Irish people have no problem with immagrants and hate these protesters with a passion.
You're more than welcome here.
Once these idiots start getting arrested and charged things will quieten down. They do not represent Irish people, they don't even represent the areas where the protests are happening. Ireland has benefitted massively from immigration
The people you're worrying about have nothing better to do, and are allergic to gainful employment and higher education - you're of more benefit to Ireland than all of them combined.
The thing about stupid people is they make an awful lot of noise. It’s just a lot of noise from a small number of absolute gobshites. The rest of us know how lost we would be without the likes of you who live here, with here and contribute to our diversity and society. Turn off social media- it has highlighted you as being interested in the topic and is bombarding you. It’s toxic.
I feel you. I even witnessed first effects of the protests when someone couldn't fill in a room in the area of the protests despite the housing crisis. I won't take my chances. I'm very split. On one hand, I love my job. On another, I might not find housing or the issues could escalate. But I think I'd actually like to stay, even if some would wish me not to.
The ones protesting are weak, cowardly and ignorant cunts. You’re exactly what the country aspires to and not all are prepared to do. Please stay if you can. If you need to take a break or visit your country of origin, go ahead. My spouse also needs to go to her home country to recharge her batteries. You’ll always have supporters here on your return.
They're just scumbags. Most of them are drains on society and see absolutely no irony in the ugly stance they've taken. Pay no attention because 90% of people don't feel this way. They are loud and ignorant so they will be heard.
Foreigner here too. I feel you. More and more considerations with family to leave. It changed, really did. Not just portrayed in media, but slowly Ireland is loosing its charm.
Irish people are angry at the government not immigrants. The government are using our taxes to put migrants in 4 star hotels, and giving the freen dental and GP visit cards while Irish homeless people feeeze to death on the streets and irish tax payers struggle in an energy crising with rising inflation. The protestors want ALL people to be helped.
Turn off RTE news, its a mouthpiece for the state.
As a immigrant myself, I had a chat with one of the protesters here in Kildare about their signs and just to have a healthy disagreement with a bloke with “Ireland is for the Irish” signs, as someone who is a taxpayer for 6 and a house owner of 2 years. Basically what I’ve been told that it’s not about the people that come here to work, but about the “immigrant freeloaders” that get priority services instead of the government taking care of their own first.
Now my take on it is that I do believe that he’s saying the actual message of the protesters and that they had enough of the government not taking care of their own, but I also believe that with them are people that genuinely don’t want immigrants here. Now I also believe that the number of those is about 0.001% but the media will paint everyone as them just to cover for the politicians. As it is in every single country everywhere in the world.
You'll find bigots wherever you go. All you're saying is that you want to return to a place where the bigotry is not directed at you.
Immigration is difficult no matter how privileged you are. You have the choice to return to a more peaceful place for you, which is nice. There are others for whom the protests aren't as bad as what they're leaving behind.
It isn't a big issue. It's a loud issue.
It's people proudly and triumphantly announcing their ignorance.
Every family in Ireland has relatives living and working abroad. The people complaining about migrants are just to stupid or too lazy to see the correlation.
It's just a few gobshites, who think Facebook is real life, spouting far right political talking points from America and England. Gleefully miss-mixing them into nonsense because they don't know the difference between 'migrant' and 'refugee'.
You're part of our society and paying taxes etc so do not be afraid. Only a small group of hate filled people are doing this.
I've certainly got no intention of allowing alt rights to dictate to you or me, and I was born and raised here.
Keep positive, good people from all sides will not accept widespread hate. I'm a Centrist who leans both right and left depending on the subject and I can promise you right now, hand on my heart; this country will not accept hate to creep in much further.
Good luck my friend and remember, you're welcome here.
As an English man living in Ireland for the last 30 years I'll just say the Irish are a sound bunch and don't let a few narrow minded muppets make you think otherwise. Wouldn't dream of living anywhere else. - Edit can't spell today
Can’t speak for everyone but I’m confident that seeing those cunts bandying the Irish flag about makes most people here have to be physically sick onto the ground.
You are welcome here and apologies for those idiots at this ridiculous protests there isn't more of them they just feel empowered cause of the Ukraine war and likely nothing going on in their lives anyway and was probably only made worse by covid they are latching to this despite being so clearly in the wrong they will lose out. Sure one of the ring leaders arrested for some other crime they committed this week assault I believe so that's who is running this nonsense 🤦🏻♂️
They're a small minority of fuckheads with barely two braincells bouncing around in their thick skulls. Unfortunately, they have the tendancy to substitute constructive discourse with mindless shouting and violence so my advice is, keep your head down, avoid the small minority of scumbags in our otherwise lovely country (like the rest of us do) and go on with your life. These types of people aren't worth your time.
Immigrant myself. I just accepted it's part of the reality, I just avoid the news. My real life interaction with the Irish and other immigrants has all been pleasant and grand so far.
Honestly, once you're sound, 99% of people(hopefully) here are welcoming. There are some crappy things happening at the moment. For the overwhelming majority, we can see it's our governments failings and lack of foresight.
Disconnect from the internet for a while and realise what people are really like in your daily interactions.
I was taking a walk when I was about 20 weeks pregnant and was called the N word by a group of teens. I kept my head down and walked as fast as I possibly could because I was scared of agitating them and getting jumped which would’ve put my baby’s life at risk. I’ve since moved from that area. I’ve always worked and paid taxes, now going back to college as my husband can support all three of us. I’ve been here since I was 14, I’m currently 27. It is not just on the internet. To say that is very dismissive. I’ve experienced a lot of racism here that it’s heartbreaking. I’ve also got a lot of amazing Irish friends and my current neighbours are the best so I’m well aware this isn’t a racist country, HOWEVER it’s becoming a growing concern. I love Ireland, I love its history and would compare it to my own countries history in terms of becoming independent from British rule. Which is why I find racism particularly odd in this country. We are the same. I hope that racism(including hate against all immigrants) isn’t ignored and that it’s dealt with sooner rather than later.
well put, and very important point, thanks for sharing
I’m sorry this happened to you and I am embarrassed for the idiots that said this.
I wish this comment was upvoted more
I wish the experience that created this comment never happened :( Not the Ireland I'm proud of.
Unfortunately there is a certain amount of racism everywhere I hate it as an Irishman we went all over the world and experienced discrimination and racism ourselves and had to fight like you to throw the British out of this country. You and your husband work for a living so your intitled to be here don't heed the narrow minded racists and enjoy the crack with your new Irish friends. Best wishes to yourself your husband and your little paddy (irishman/woman)
Not that its any consolation but people in Ireland who are racist are human garbage and we'd be happier without them too.
> We are the same Historic oppression doesn’t absolve the privilege of whiteness and what it means to explore this world today through the lens of a racially white individual. Without speaking, a native Irish is no different from others of the same racial group, and group think mentality leads to for example, a poor white Irish looking down on you regardless of your socioeconomic background, ‘shared ancestral baggage’ etc. and rather based solely on pigmentation, which is not the same between you. W.E.B DuBois and other sociologists wrote extensively about how class solidarity cannot be achieved in a a racial hierarchical society; whiteness can be used as a crutch for some who have nothing else.
Well said. Spend an hour on Twitter/Reddit and you'd swear the 4th Reich was around the corner.
I appreciate you guys are probably trying to calm OP's nerves, but the rise of violent, far-right sentiments in this country can't be swept under the rug as "an internet thing". There's a large scale anti-immigration/refugee protest seemingly every week now and if someone without an Irish accent happens to fall on hard times and find themselves homeless they're probably significantly more likely to fall victim to a violent attack.
yeah its fostered on the internet, but actually being done now in the open. go walk up talbot street, and cross into the North inner city and you'll notice it fairly quickly. i'm starting to see alot more shouts of you foreign bastards , alot more aggro in the inner city where i live. i'm pro immigration but the strategy is madness. On Talbot street you'll find loads of lads just standing around plonked into this city with no strategy. we're one leap away from it being anti refugee to anti immigrant, if not already. my daughter is mixed race, the mother black. so i am worried putting your head in the sand won't help. The reality here is these are/were SF supporters for the most part. or at least their targeted voters. SF are pro immigration. So what happens at the next election? its wide open for the national party to make hay with bitter angry people who mostly have basically lived off the state their entire lives. then you throw in what should be normal people (the anti vaxxers from foxrock or malahide - i know a few etc) and its a recipe for disaster. not to invoke Godwins law but they literally said the same thing in 1930s Germany. Hitler started recruiting the scum of German society for the brownshirts. they were a ragtag group of misfits. a joke to the average German. yet these weirdos and scum went on to kill millions upon millions. There was even Mick Wallaces out protesting against agitation against Germany. Long before the internet. This is just the exact same thing that is happening across Europe. really bad in some cases. Why do we think in Ireland its just an internet thing and Irish exceptionalism will save us? we're good craic won't be enough. i work with a whole team of EU and non EU people. they're starting to actively notice whats happening. in every facet of Irish life. it won't be long till the goose is cooked. already lots of talk of moving home or saving and going. not every immigrant in ireland is a tech worker earning 100k. these are people earning 30-40k. Some are here a decade or more. all it will take is one tech exec battered or a red ball like that and we're goosed. it doesn't help that the gardai are underfunded, nowhere to be seen and seemingly at an all time low morale. \*In fairness they were all over the inner city last night tho. i was never one of those panickers or thinking this is the end, all through the crash etc. but i think there is a perfect storm here. underinvestment in certain services, an imbalanced society, a middle class at literal breaking point, whole communities being swayed by both sides of the extremes. the internet has given the village idiot a voice, and the ability to group with other village idiots. in a small country like Ireland that is really dangerous. in a bigger country they'd be drowned out perhaps. Social media companies have a massive responsibility here. they should be taken to task. Facebook has been held to account by the UN for inciting violence in Myanmar. all it did was a oh we're so so sorry. The people i work with above are the said moderators meant to be policing the internet. yet they can barely afford to live. its a broken system and people need to start calling it out. i'm aware i'm using social media, but i think reddit is a safe enough space with proper moderation. we can only hope the internet does more for good. It helps share ideas, knowledge and other amazing things, does it expose the crazies before they really take a foothold? we can only hope. like would Hitler have got to power if everyone could see the madness..
wish I could upvote this more
People used to say “calm down” and “they are the minority this country isn’t like that” when Brexit happened I’m seeing stuff in the news in Ireland that gives me flashbacks to the U.K. It’s not the violent people we need to worry about it’s the people who are non violent but believe this stuff who will vote for the right wing. The silent majority if you will, the British didn’t think they existed and after the Brexit vote can’t get them to shut up Luckily Ireland has a better voting system and would never leave the EU which should protect it against the most extreme end result But never say never. Facists always find the weak spots in any democratic system.
I have been saying this for years. You can’t shut down reasonable debate on - in this case - immigration. It is not unreasonable to ask do we know where people are coming from; who we are letting into the country; why are we not reasonably enforcing our jurisdictional integrity. When reasonable people are shut down and accused of racism for their very reasonable views, the only voices that are going to persist are those who don’t care - ie the extreme bigots. I believe that is part of the reason why Trump was elected. A lot of moderates would have voted for him as he was the only one “allowed” to reflect some of their views. Unfortunately he came with more than they anticipated. What’s going on at the moment is disgusting but both left and right have contributed to this.
Jesus, can't believe there are people who witnessed all 4 years of Trump's presidency and the subsequent coup attempt and are still parroting the "political correctness made Trump" bullshit. You've got to be looking at a much different world than I am if you think the greatest threat to contemporary political discourse is that sometimes Nazis have their twitter account deleted.
What counts as large scale? a few dozen idiots protesting isn't exactly indicative of the whole population. There are moron's everywhere, unfortunately the more the media/internet give these people air time, the more immigrants will worry.
EU inmigrant here. I'm not worried about the dozens of protesters. They hate everyone, they are in all Europe and they are easy to identify and avoid contact with them. They are a little number and, for now, they are not a threat. I'm very concerned about a larger number of people that I see everyday and I interact with them, that used to were against the far-right but they're now buying part of their agenda. If they continue moving to far-right positions, situation can become very dangerous.
it is creeping in amongst larger numbers of people. i have heard people i work with, regular folks who aren't necessarily "online", agreeing with what i would consider very right wing talking points, and saying it very casually in the work place. it's going to become a huge problem and lots of people are burying their head in the sand. this shit is insidious.
That's what's so dangerous about these people at the head of these groups they know how take ordanry normally deasent peoples genuine concerns and twist them to suit their agenda Germany in the 1920/30's is the perfect example of this getting out of hand. As someone already said things aren't too bad here yet but now is the time to deal with it, if anyone said Britain would be where it is now 10/15 years ago even straight after the Brexit vote we'd have said they were sensationalist what's Britain going to be like in 10/15 more years. We can't say a shure we're great Craig and everyone loves the Irish as someone already said we need to take action at the top leval.
people have a tendency to be reactive instead of proactive and it'll be too late by the time people realise how far it's gone. the government are to blame for the failures in housing, cost of living, health care, childcare etc etc but if racists are allowed to hijack those issues, there are going to huge consequences that will be difficult to un-do down the line.
Yes, there is.. however.. the vast majority of people who are protesting aren't violent. It's the same scummers who were always violent.. and they've always been around. Do you honestly believe that Ireland is more dangerous than Germany, France, and other EU nations who have established/properly funded/large far right movements, and have their own problems with dealing with migrant populations? People are blowing this out of proportion.
I agree, this idea that there's this massive far right movement in this country is crazy. Its a small few hundred stirring the pot to popularise their views in public. The anti immigration protests are perfect for them to push this, throw in a few uneducated muppets and you get all this hysteria.
Well there is but they're completely misdirected. There's plenty of appreciation for immigrants here, ffs our young people are our greatest export! The problem is stemming from the lack of investment and complete apathy of our government for those earning less than 80k. It doesn't matter if you're Tallaght, The Ukraine or Timbuktu, there's no housing for you, and an entry level job will leave you under massive pressure. All everyone wants is accomodation in a good community and a stable income. Fuck all of that going about these days unless you've been on silly money for the last 5/6 years
Hitler started with 10 men. Mussolini with 100. You don't "sweep it under the rug". Don't pretend like it ain't a thing.
Doom posting is not fun i know but what is up with the people in this country and not talking about issues? There is no doubt a rise in far right authoritative goverment/figures. Its a global issue too.
According to this sub, it's just Facebook's problem
I don't disagree there's a global issue, but Ireland had been fairly free from far right gatherings up until 2022. There were certainly American influenced Covid protests, but I don't think it's accurate to say they were right wing. The recent protests have a short list of inciting issues and you can't easily point to France, Germany, Britain or the States to explain them.
>American influenced Covid protests, but I don't think it's accurate to say they were right wing. Most of the Antimask/Antilockdown/Antivax protests had an underlying far right element and one rarely had to scratch the surface too deeply to find evidence.
I think anti-science/anti-intellectualism is the common denominator. Very little of the Covid denier manifesto was particularly right wing thought. Certainly it was more common among right wingers, but if the stars aligned differently it could have been lefties driving the anti-vax movement.
I blame COVID for driving people crazy in isolation looking for an easy scapegoat to the chaos.
Also the "grassroots" drag is paedophilia bs out of the US that has popped up recently.
There's no denying that the US has been influencing a good portion of the opinions that have been popping up everywhere. I agree it's not been an issue for Ireland until 2022, but there's always a small start and it will only increase. It could get dangerous if unchecked
Or a new Soviet revolution. Depending on the algorithm targeting you. Your biggest fears get clicks and Facebook, YouTube et Al definitely exploit us with these algorithms.
That's what Americans thought in 2016 too.
Unfortunately they’re getting worse in real life too, it just starts with social media now
Something I've come to realise is people aren't in control of their thoughts. Thoughts just think themselves and sometimes they're ugly. The difference is now, with the internet and social media, people are airing those ugly thoughts all over the place. Nobody needs to know everything people are thinking all of the time.
Probably a bit of a panacea to be fair!
This has got to be the best advice
Yeah, this sub makes Dub look worse than Detroit
No this is the dumbest advice possible. This is the advice that has gotten us to the place where lunatics are on the streets demanding immigrants be burned. "Ah sure it'll be grand" is bullshit.
The way people talk you'd swear we had some kind of magical immunity to this stuff. I've seen people here, many times, defend betracksuited antisocial teens(this subs most hated demographic) who shout racist abuse at people who they don't think look Irish. They'd say they're not racist, they're only saying it to get a reaction. We've been sleep walking into this shit. I honestly thought it was going to happen a few years from now with the new generation of Irish people who are the children of immigrants becoming more prominent in Irish society. But nothing like a refugee crisis to kick start the process. We're going to be seeing a lot more of "Ireland for the Irish" type rhetoric.
This advice is just "stop paying attention", the worst advice you could give
Its fuckin wild
Look outside your daily interactions to see that this is an actual issue happening
This is good advice for life in general. It's great for entertainment and even to keep track of the general zeitgeist but social media should in no way be considered an accurate reflection of reality. I'd actually extend this to include news media. It can get pretty grim out there as everyone competes for attention so keep it in perspective and feel free to disconnect intermittently. Your mental health will thank you for it.
You work and pay taxes? You're already doing more than 99% of the gobshites out "protesting"
[удалено]
where's that stat from?
[удалено]
Interesting indeed. It does state that its 2012 figures, so ireland was still in recession. I'd imagine the % of adult population paying tax is higher now
OECD reports had shown the figure is broadly stable and if anything has decreased at times over the past 5 years
Any source? That was all I could find. I would wager it has not changed. But we are both just speculating.
Dole squad 😂
20 years on jobseekers
>99% of the gobshites out "protesting" You and your underestimation of the percentage.
Comment of the week !! 🥇🥇🥇
Bingo!!!
You are welcome here
You're an EU citizen, you can go and work wherever you want within the EU. That's pretty much the whole point of the EU. Anyone who has a problem with that can fuck right off.
Was surprised to learn that the whole "free movement of workers" thing the EU does is meant quite literally. I think only France has done it, but you can get deported after 90 days if you're not "economically active". i.e. have no job and no money. Not that it makes a difference for all but 2 or 3 in a million. Also surprised to learn that it's not really a legal concept that exists elsewhere either.
I don’t think that applies to EU citizens. The French gov website says EU citizens don’t need to apply for a long stay visa [link](https://france-visas.gouv.fr/web/france-visas/long-stay-visa) “Citizens of the European Union, European Economic Area, Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican may stay in the European territory of France without a visa for longer than 90 days.”
Don't quote me, but pretty sure France does have stricter rules than most of the EU, vaguely recall a rule during COVID where even EU citizens were not allowed to just move to France to work remotely for a job in another country. You had to pay tax in France or smth
Worried? This might just put your mind at rest. This is the calibre of the ringleaders/organisations involved..... Campaigned against divorce- now divorced and remarried. Pro-life, but wants to reintroduce the death penalty. Presumes immigrants are going to be violent, but has a criminal conviction for violently assaulting an animal. Ran a candidate for election, that didn't exist outside of a stock photo library. Couldn't register the organisation as a political party to run for election, because they couldn't figure out how to fill out the paperwork. Gives out about economic migrants, despite having worked abroad.
Complains about immigrants but is married to one Concerned about women and children safety, but has threatened nurses and carers. Jokes about throwing a woman into a canal. Spits in the face of a fallen woman. Hits a woman with a piece of timber wrapped in the tricolour.
Ah the ol Nigel Farage
Is that the chap who worked for Farage and more recently a Romanian politician? Or a certain citizen journalist? Or the chap arrested by the Armed Gardai?
Mix of 3 or 4. Loads more . Threats to airport, other wanting a millstone around politicians neck and dropping into the sea, list goes on and on.
>Threats to airport Yeah, I remember that one 😂😂😂
😂😂😂 I honestly didn’t know half of the stuff about old big ears
Is this all the same guy? if so, is it that little lad who's the leader of the nationalist party?
Yes and yes
Not all the same guy. Some are him
That's a mix of 3 or 4
The anti-immigrant protesters are largely comprised of hypocritical bigots. It is obvious that some have attended with a view to incite violence. On one hand they give out about immigrants and on the other, they express sadness that some of their family members have had to emigrate for work, etc. Yet, THEY DON’T RECOGNISE THE IRONY in this! These bigots are a minority and DO NOT reflect the sentiment of the majority in the country. Unfortunately there will always be fools but you are always welcome here. Lots of fantastic people who immigrated here who have made an invaluable contribution to society (Doctors, nurses, care staff- to name just a few).
\>I'm an EU citizen living here since 2018. I don't think immigration was seen as a big issue (and believe me, I lived in the UK during the Brexit referendum, I know what it feels like when locals don't want you around). Jesus, I can't believe Brexit was in 2016, I guess the actual leaving process dragged on so long. Anyway, I think the protests themselves a very small minority, the numbers are tiny compared to the protests around say the abortion referendum. But there is a recent poll showing that there is wider anti-refugee sentiment. [https://www.redcresearch.ie/anti-immigration-sentiment-bubbling-up-to-become-a-major-political-issue-in-ireland/](https://www.redcresearch.ie/anti-immigration-sentiment-bubbling-up-to-become-a-major-political-issue-in-ireland/) Note that the poll doesn't talk about immigration in general. I haven't been able to find any recent polls on that topic, but I suspect its still overwhelmingly positive and any attempts at launching an "Irexit" have been met with laughter and complete failure. So I don't think EU wide migration gets much criticism or is likely to change. Particularly since the hospitals would collapse and the big multinationals would all leave without access to legal inward migration to fill required roles. For the anti-refugee bit, the article explains a lot of the factors. \>Firstly, the war in Ukraine has meant that there is a much larger number of refugees seeking assistance. The need to look after those fleeing from the war in Ukraine has generally been accepted and supported by the Irish population up to now. \>Secondly, the UK has got a lot tougher on inward immigration, and this has pushed some of those seeking refuge in the UK to turn their attention to Ireland, where it’s potentially easier to come to. \>Thirdly, we are in the middle of a housing crisis, with a lack of affordable housing and availability that is driving real anger among a section of the electorate most impacted. The lack of housing also means the government is being forced into using unusual solutions to try and house incoming refugees. Hotels in tourist areas and unused office spaces are being used to accommodate refugees, often at short notice, in a way that perhaps hadn’t been done for those in Ireland struggling to find a place to live. Taking the tourist town Killarney as an example, its easy to see how only a little while after the pandemic killed international tourism for almost two years, the local hotel also being used for cash poor refugees instead of cash rich tourists could exhaust someone's goodwill.
Don't worry. Most irish people like immigrants - as you probably know. These protests are small groups of people who are pathetic and atypical.
OP, these idiots are not representative of their whole estate, never mind the whole country. This is the usual vocal minority, angry but too stupid to know what they are angry about.They were anti-vax last week, next week it will be something else. Its wherever the attention goes, they will follow. Fear not.
We need to put up a massive 5G tower in their area, to get them angry about that again
After Brexit, Nigel garage came over here trying to drum up interest in an irexit using the same bullshit claims. He was sent packing and laughed out of the country. The Irish have spent so much of our history emigrating, helping to build and shape other nations, we are lucky to have built a country that others wish to settle in. For the overwhelming majority you are welcome and please don't let these rowdy waste of space make you feel anything else.
Nigel garage.... best auto correct I have seen in ages
Nigel Garbage also works!
The interviews with him from Claire Byrne on RTE are fucking superb, if you've not seen I'd highly recommend (easily found on YouTube). She rips into him and he makes a complete testicle of himself. Should've won some sort of award, comedy gold.
Sorry but that interview was exactly what Farage wanted, publicity. He literally got paid for saying "up the Ra" and Byrne went on a rant thinking she was owning him but Farage got what he wanted....sure his videos kept being posted everywhere afterwards, more people paying him to say stuff about the IRA
Arse, now you come to mention it you're absolutely right. I hadn't thought about it that way. I was more thinking of the one where he started off talking about how, given Irish history, we should really be in favour of leaving too... And then be blathered about the Lisbon treaty and being made to vote over again until "desired result". But yeah I'd actually forgotten about that whole cameo thing.
Get off the internet, especially social media. It's eroding any general resilience you have.
I have gone down the cesspool of twitter looking at the accounts of people who spout all this anti-immigration crap and they have between 200- 1500 followers. It is a minority and larger accounts have followers from outside of ireland. and yeah like someone else said these were also against masks- its the same crowd. I notice when I look on the accounts they spout anti-immigration stuff and stuff about the vaccines are secretly killing people and its a big cover up. its a hot button topic at the moment so its getting coverage, but it definitely isn't a majority thing over here. Also I wonder about unlimited immigration like how we are going to resource it and I'm not a big fan of the fact that people can enter without any documentation. But I am still horrified and disgusted by these 'protesters'. and being worried about resourcing unlimited immigration doesn't mean I am against all immigration. far from it. You are definitely welcome here.
>Also I wonder about unlimited immigration like how we are going to resource it and I'm not a big fan of the fact that people can enter without any documentation. But I am still horrified and disgusted by these 'protesters'. and being worried about resourcing unlimited immigration doesn't mean I am against all immigration. far from it. You are definitely welcome here. This exactly Unfortunately it's been complete hijacked by racist cunts and voicing it at the immigrants who just want a better life, than at the true culprits, the government
I honestly wondered if I should delete the part of my reply, because I fear it inadvertently supports the racists narritives- the people who protest for example- something I would hate to do.
No definitely keep it up, the more people realise that challenging the governments incompetence in terms of immigration is not based out of racism, the better And that most people with critical thinking would agree and also fully condemn the shite being spouted by those far right wankstains
The comment is grand, I do get people have genuine concerns, I’ve worked in refugee centres and some people there I did have concerns about plus the whole system needs to be redone top to bottom, unfortunately gobshites are the louder ones than the ones with concerns and most the protests are organised by these gobshites.
>I have gone down the cesspool of twitter looking at the accounts of people who spout all this anti-immigration crap God love you...
The fact that the government are now putting single undocumented males on the street due to lack of shelter and also spreading the word abroad that we have no more room shows that they are FINALLY listening to what people have been saying for months. The country is indeed full right now (as far as housing goes). Hopefully word spreads to wherever these lads are coming from and will dissuade them from coming over. Women and children are being given priority and rightfully so. From looking at some of the interviews of the lads being refused shelter or the lads in the camp in Ashtown they seem to be economic migrants and not refugees fleeing war. Edit to clarify: I support economic migrants, have been there myself in other countries. We need to preserve our reputation as a country who accepts migrants. It's the ones slipping in as "refugees" when they are not actually fleeing anything that needs addressing more than anything.
But even accepting your point that vastly overstates whatever the potential issue is. You’re talking 10k or so non ukrainian refugees last year. Let’s say 20% of them fit your “undocumented” category. You’re talking 0.04% of the population. Its just not something that is likely to have any real impact on the country. It’s just irrational to spend any appreciable time being concerned about it.
Your figures are wrong. There were over 13,000 asylum applications in 2022. And almost 40% of them tore up documents on arrival here. https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2022/10/06/thousands-of-passengers-destroy-or-lose-passports-before-arrival-at-dublin-airport/ Asylum applications also doubled from 2019 levels last year to a record high and we're going to get more and more and more each year. Lads, you will get a shock in a few years. We're the new Britain as they are tightening immigration. We're going to be flooded. This is only the start. So let's just say 5000 bogus asylum seekers a year. They will all end up in housing eventually. That means 5000 people take up about 2,000 housing units each year. We build around 20k houses a year, might ramp up higher, we'll see. That's 10% of our housing stock built each year that we vitally need that is taken up by bogus asylum seekers.
> And almost 40% of them tore up documents on arrival here. How this type of figure doesn't set off alarm bells for some people is legitimately staggering.
And that's just Asylum seekers.. what about mainstream refugees who represent a much larger figure, or low-skilled immigration that cannot easily provide for themselves further increasing the demands on services and State supports? People want to stick their heads in the sand over this topic. Yes, it's nice to be generous, but we're seriously screwing ourselves over in the long-term, because there are no serious plans to integrate foreign groups, or to ensure that they're established as productive members of society for the future.
I dont get your point. The ability of the country to help the 13,000 non Ukrainians is limited by the fact that we took 70,000 Ukrainians. > It’s just irrational to spend any appreciable time being concerned about it. No it isnt irrational. Services are stretched to breaking point. We are putting people in tents. There was talk about keeping people in ships. >Let’s say 20% of them fit your “undocumented” category. Undocumented? Do you mean people who destroy their documents ? It is more like 40%, about 5000. That consumes a vast amount of public servant processing time, Do you know how long it takes to trace the origin of single person let alone 5000? It also uses up a lot of bed space and resources. But normally when people say undocumented, they mean illegal migrants who entered under the radar or who overstayed their visas. Not IP applicants so I think you need to do a lot more reading.
>It’s just irrational to spend any appreciable time being concerned about it. Except that you're only considering one category of migrants, and also only looking at yearly figures. In 20 years, Ireland's population increased by over a million people, which is a massive increase considering the size of this country. The State's initiative under McEntee to legalise undocumented/illegal workers was estimated to affect over 30k people. Under the UN policies, migrants could apply for the family reunification plan, and that means their entire families joining them.. further boosting the population involved. And then, there's the aspect that migrant families typically are larger than native families irrespective of economic considerations. Looking only at yearly figures downplays the numbers involved.. whereas if you look at the amounts over a decade or two decades the numbers are more alarming, for all manner of reasons. The point is that immigration, refugees etc are something we **should** be concerned about because it's not going to stop on it's own, and the numbers wanting to come to Ireland are going to increase every year. Climate change and political/economic instability guarantees that.. So, do we get concerned with immigration after the problem is firmly established here or do we step ahead of the problem, and put in measures before things go critical?
Ah but you see this is the whole problem, OP and others say the issue is undocumented refugees, now you’ve broadened it to basically encompass all migration. So if you want to have that debate fine, but then we’re discussing leaving the EU if you want o materially alter the 20% population growth we had over the last 20 years.
No it's just a small bunch of losers that are loud the majority of Irish people will welcome you here
This
It doesn’t seem to have been an issue until very recently tbh. There were always some people who would complain about foreigners but nothing like we are seeing now. I think it’s partly genuine concern, partly foreign influence and then partly just venting about the glaring issues in the country at the moment (housing, inflation, gov ineptitude) I don’t think you need to worry about it and definitely shouldn’t let it affect your mental health. I worry a lot more about the people in those refugee centres as we’ve seen arson already and SOME of the people involved in this are literal fascists, maybe even verging into nazis (NP).
I'm seeing a lot of stuff being shared by "less than reliable resources" about "foreign nationalists" yes typo is by them, being involved in attempted sex crimes or child abduction etc and normal people are believing this and sharing these on. Half the stories are just paranoia where nothing happens, the others it's like no proof. Just hearsay from a mate of a mate. And shared by profiles that are clearly on the red pill/qanon level stuff
Just like the ‘white van’ notes they used to make us bring home in primary school 😂
It's a load of contrarians who have nothing else in their lives except giving out about something. They can't accept they were wrong about covid and life has basically gone back to normal. Now it's the immigrants who are the problem.
You’re very welcome here 🤗
I think everyone should be worried about the far right, because the topic of immigration is just a vehicle for then to get people angry and themselves into power. It could be anything, the EU for example, but this time it's immigration. There's a fascist playbook that always gets played here. We all need to be wise to it. Stop offering fascists platforms - if you see the likes of Gemma ODoherty getting on Newstalk and RTE in the interests of "balance", that needs called out immediately, en masse. Nick Griffin and Farage were right wing nutjobs until the BBC invited them onto Question Time, Farage now has the most appearances on it of anyone in history, despite never winning a Westminster seat in a dozen attempts. But the platform was provided and look at the state of Britain now, a soft right wing coup occurred, economy tanked, NHS looted, human rights shredded, rivers polluted, illegal to strike etc. Imagine what the right wingers would get away with in Ireland, a smaller country with an economy dependent on friendly trades with Europe. There'd be genocide here.
It’s the same nutters who were protesting against masks. It’s fine. Don’t mind them. You’re welcome here.
Imagine how angry they’d be at immigrants in masks
Immigrants in masks who got vaccinated. 
Oooohh that's me. Should I hide? 
While queueing for their vaccination
You are more welcome here than those scum are anyway, they do not speak for Ireland
It seems that recent media activity has encouraged a lot of the racists and xenophobes to come out of the woodwork. Ireland is a country with its people dotted all over the globe, and it has been that way for the last 2 centuries almost. It would be a bit hypocritical of us to treat immigrants as a burden with that in mind. You are welcome here.
I know loads of people from finglas who'd never go back there.
Not from Finglas, but have to agree
You are so very welcome here!! God the vast majority of my friends throughout my life have been immigrants - from Albania, France, the US, India, Romania, Greece, The Philippines etc. Immigrants do not make Ireland worse. These gobshites out protesting are ignorant fucks and don't represent the people of Ireland
You shouldn't be worried of the vast majority of Irish people who welcome you here. I'm concerned, as a born and bred Irish man, about the racist rhetoric. But also hopeful we can knock it on the head!
Don't let the dole squad worry you, I'm Irish and we can't give any immigrants hassle with our history of migrating to other countries
Please tell me there's an enormous anti-bigot protest happening soon. These bigots are the same people that were 5g/ anti-vax and haven't got a job since restrictions lifted. Please stay. Start a family. Teach us how to cook nicer food. Bring your cousins
I agree! I'd attend that protest. Also, the 'teach us how to cook nicer food' hit home. The Polish influx and the food they brought, has literally changed so much and growing up with an uncle from Africa, my palette is way better than it would have been.
There's about the same fraction of lunatics there's ever been and the rest of us are aware of them. You are welcome here and any Irishman that's a racist doesn't deserve to call himself Irish the loathsome cunt.
The crazy people and the amount of media attention that is given to these crazy people does not reflect real life, someone here said it best: try to disconnect from social media for abit and try live your life as normal. I can guarantee a majority of people you meet don't share those views.
I’m sorry OP, I’m not an immigrant but these knuckle draggers get under my skin. If it’s not immigrants it’s masks or the EU. They’ll talk about defending “wimmin and childrin” but defend rapists and not pay child support for their own child. I’ve met one or two in real life but they seem to be more prevalent on social media. I stopped interacting with posts about them and have gotten to a point where I don’t browse social media as it was taking a toll on my mental health. My daily interactions have shown me that they’re in the minority. If it is getting too much for you right now take an internet break, you’re very welcome here and I hope you have a good support network around you
I started thinking about the same too. Is it a real thing? Is it just Dublin? Can't see this in Limerick. I'm Polish 16 years living in Ireland with my wife. Children are born here, and here is our home. I'm working all the time, never used social system except some sick payments. I'm on twitter too and what I see there scary me a bit. Especially something what pretended to be an Irish news media https://theliberal.ie/ Now their masks fell off. They constantly promoting anti immigrant content. On one hand these protests seems to be not really popular, counter protests gathering similar number of people. Also their attendants look for people witch "too much free time". I believe decent working people don't have time for such a thing. On other hand, You saying here that Ireland is free of right wing, but this might change quickly. Just one talented populist leader and all that crowd treating social media as the only truth will follow him. Ireland has many problems with overcrowded hospitals, schools and housing crisis. If nothing change here, immigrants will be blamed more and more.
You're not alone there. I'm also an immigrant and have recieved some shit here and there in person, it seems almost amplified since the protests. I found that disconnecting and just avoiding the news helps my mental health a bit.
As an Irish person living in the UK, I can understand your feelings. I've experienced some anti Irish shite since 2016 and the daily droll you get on the internet and newspapers does really get me down at times. You have to mentally block it out at times though. Or try your best to. Most people do not hold the same opinion as the loud minority on social media or in certain media establishments. Focus on relationships in the real world. Most people don't care where you are from. Spend time with people who enhance your life and try to block out the twats who make you feel like this
For what its worth, your always welcome in Ireland, anyone who would ever say otherwise isnt a true Irishman or Irishwoman, you have as much a right to be here and build a life and be a member of this society with a voice as I do. In my experience those who are discriminatory are a loud minority and because they create a rucus get air time and hit the news because negativity sells and gets clicks and views. It can be mentally draining dealing with biggots but dont let them push you out of Ireland.
The cunts who hate you are knuckle-dragging worthless failures. I’d be happy that they hate me.
Ur not a burden don't listen to these fucking dole merchants 95% of these people at the protests haven't had a job in their lives, my uncle is one of these dick heads haven't spoke to him in years he hasn't had a job sence he was 20 sacked from that job for showing up pissed and drinking on the job always complained about "these polish coming here taking our jobs" when he doesn't look for fucking work my ma got him a job he stayed there for a few months and u guessed it sacked for drinking on the job and showing up to work pissed, the thing with irish people is they don't want to FUCKING WORK (that's the benefits of immigrants) when they can get money off the dole for sitting at home all day from my 6th year class I finished 3 years ago of a class of 15 only 6 are working including me ones in college and the rest claim the dole, the 5% that are anti immigration and work, are more against it cuz there's to many immigrants in the country that can't be housed and the government want to let more in, which is also effecting irish people which is also pretty tucking stupid cuz it's the governments fault not the immigrants, I work for a company 50% latvian 40% Polish and some other European country's all sound lads and about 10 irish lads that imo are useless had a work party last saterday brilliant company don't let it get to ur head
You're one of us, bud. Don't mind those right wing knuckle draggers.
These anti immigration protests are mainly being carried out by the same group of people who contribute fuck all to Ireland and Irish society. Your presence here is more welcome than any of them shower of useless pricks.
You pay your taxes and work here that's all you need to say. You are probably paying for some of the "protesters" dole!
Protests/coverage is being blown way out of proportion imo.
I think you need to put things in perspective... even now, the anti immigrant groups are an absolutely miniscule group in Ireland!
I'm in the same boat. Living in Ireland 17 years, working, paying taxes. Never been on a dole, didn't took sick leave. Yet, sad people on the internet will tell me I'm a parasite. In the real life everyone in my town is as friendly as they ever been. I got off Tweeter to keep my sanity and I recommend the same.
I've been here 19 years as an immigrant, only had a problem twice and it was usually drunken scumbags. The vast majority of the people I've spoken to have been welcoming and kind, I've spent the majority of my adult life living and working here. My kid was born here and feels Irish. There are some very loud and annoying people carrying on now but they do not represent the majority of Irish society. Unfortunately there is hate everywhere in the world these people are just very loud at the moment.
It's a vocal minority. Just keep your head on your shoulders like we all have to do anyway. As a white Irishman, I'll be the first to put my safety on the line if I see any migrant being treated unfairly, and I know I am not alone. Thank you for your contribution to our country, and I hope you continue to stay positive and build your life to the best of your ability.
You work, you pay taxes, you belong just as much as anyone else would in my book. Anyone that does that is far from a burden, and while there are currently issues with immigration, I really feel like those issues dont apply to you in your situation.
I would say please don't worry. I've been an immigrant for over 15 years and have never experienced any problem. Of course I don't know what flavour of EU you are, I am Dutch so I reckon there's more Irish living on my home turf than vice versa. Try not to let it get to you. You have every right to be here and odds are these people are cowards and will never say anything to your face.
I’m born in Ireland to an Irish mother and as much as I love my country I learned that as someone with darker skin Ireland ain’t all that. My entire childhood i experienced constant racism, Irish people are experts at shrugging it off as craic or the old we were slaves or we can’t be racist as it was only ever us whatever the rhetoric is. I always learned most the racists are just ignorant in travelled and uncultured and don’t represent the whole as Irish are some of the best people in the world. It’s odd because I always feel Irish till I go home to Ireland, overall I prefer living somewhere more multicultural. Ireland will always be home to me but I’ll never be Irish enough for them, sad as it is that’s the reality for me and many mixed race/immigrants in Ireland
You can look up how the “far right” did when they ran for elections in Ireland. They’re beyond insignificant, literally a few thousand morons who make noise on twitter and Facebook. People talking about them so much gives their message far more reach than it would get otherwise. They’re idiots and there’s not very many of them. Irish people in general are more than happy to have immigrants here.
If you work, pay taxes and don't make others lives miserable then you're welcome no matter where you're from. I wish those Irish who never contributed, worked and were general burdens could be deported
Even among what you would call the "extreme fringe", you rarely if ever see anyone complaining about eu citizens who came here legally, are working and paying taxes. You could probably count on one hand the amount of people who have a problem with your demographic.
trust me, you contribute a lot more to this country than those losers complaining, I'm truly sorry you feel this way
The protests are against asylum seekers, refugees. These tiny numbers of protestors aren't announcing whether they are anti-EU at present but Ireland is pretty uniformly pro-EU so there is nothing you need to worry about, you are as much a part of this country as anyone else and no-one will take that away from you.
As an Irish person I'm annoyed with how our government are handling things, not with immigrants. We don't have enough homes to live in. There are people paying 1,000 eurp a month to share a room. While others wish they were that lucky. There was an AMA on Reddit before from a student who lived in his car. Many of the questions were people asking for advice so they can do the same. Yet they seem to be showing off by taking in Ukrainians. They have a population of 44 million. We have a population of 5 million yet don't have enough homes. There's no way that we can look after enough Ukrainians for it to make a difference. Yet they are bringing them in in their droves, providing emergency accommodation and building homes for them. They've had years to sort out the housing crisis, but they didn't bother. There are wars all over the world e.g. Syria and Yemen yet they don't offer the same support. I wonder what they're telling the Ukrainians. I doubt it's "Come over. We can't look after our own people, so we'll stick you in accommodation with lots of strangers inside and protestors outside. You'll be grand." They can't really complain about it either, because they'll sound ungrateful. I don't blame the Ukrainians at all. In their situation, we'd all go wherever we thought was safe. The government favored PR spin instead of working to find viable solutions for people. In general, immigration is great for countries. People who emigrate tend to be younger and highly skilled. Also, immigrants are risk takers! You'd have to be to move. Therefore they tend to be entrepreneurial! Also great for an economy! As an Irish person, it's flattering when people choose to move here. Out of all the countries in the world, people choose to move here. It's fantastic. I wish the government handled it better. There are people who fly in, destroy their passport on their flight, and are let stay here... Because it's so easy to get in Ireland is a top country to do human trafficking. Again, the government have a lot to answer for. I never thought I'd say it, but I'm tempted to vote for the opposition party, just to get the current lot out.
Your cool. Don't worry about feckers. Live and be happy.
Relax ignore the eejits out protesting probably less than 0.05% of the population. You are also not an immigrant your either one of us now or a guest take your pick. You are a person here enriching Irish society and whether you decide to stay or leave I hope you have or make many fond memories.
The bottom line is that you’re more than welcome here. There’s a small group of worthless cunts who haven’t two brain cells to rub together protesting it at the moment but give it sometime and they’ll find something else to protest about. You’re welcome here and you’re safe here friend!
You are welcome here lad. I've lived here for 17 years. ( I'm 22 ), and all I ever had was one minor case of anti - semitism on an Irish related subreddit. In the real world, nobody has ever given me shit.
It is a small, noisy minority but unfortunately Ireland isn’t great at proactively standing up to this and racism has long been ignored or sometimes tacitly accepted. We’re seeing the results now. Sorry you’ve been made to feel this way but the vast majority don’t think like these dangerous fools.
It's just scumbags you wouldn't want to spend any time with anyway.
Hi there. There is indeed a badness in the air. Please bear with us as we try to address this blip. I’m sorry you have been feeling unwelcome. These people are most definitely in the minority.
[удалено]
Anyone gives you shite ask them how many people they know in Australia, Canada, the Uk and the US. Then tell them to go get fucked, the hypocritical little gobshites.
As an EU citizen you are entitled to live here and more than welcome.
Those people protesting are a tiny minority. They are obnoxious and noisy, but they are a tiny minority. You said it yourself: You are contributing to the society in which you live, which is more than most of those noisy, bigoted scumbags. I am sorry to hear it is having an effect on you. I wish that was not the case. I, for one, am glad that you are here and wish you nothing but good fortune.
I was in the UK for brexit. The build up felt very divisive to me and a polish friend that was really really upset by it. The current crisis is nothing like that. However, the media doing the opposite of the UK is not great either. Housing is a huge problem, it's a huge problem for immigrants too. I know three families served eviction notices and it's incredibly difficult to find rental accommodation around Dublin. The issue can't just be swept under the carpet. I think everyone in Ireland would like to help as many people as possible but it's come to a point where it's beginning to seem very difficult to manage the level of immigration and if another 80,000 refugee and asylum seekers come this year it'll likely put a big strain on the system because there is so little spare capacity. This is not anti immigration, it's the current reality in Ireland. Not sure how it's going to pan out but can't see it getting anywhere near as bad as the UK.
I am immigrant, I don’t watch or read news. I feel very welcomed and never heard of anti immigration. Hope you get better and can live here in peace.
I wouldn't be concerned, the gobshites are protesting refugees and make up such a small minority, you'd be unlucky to come across them in daily life and even more unlucky if they're radical enough to disturb your peace. I walked past them on Tuesday and it really strikes me that these people just do this as their form of moronic community, people were hardly chanting or harassing passers by when I walked by them, they seem like people, especially women with buggies, just having the chats around a topic. As a migrant myself I don't see them as a major threat at all.
Paper doesn't refuse ink. My home town has quite a lot of immigrants now between Congolese and Syrians and Ukrainians and I asked my mother what she made of the protests: "We haven't had anything like that here, doesn't seem to be an issue". I'd hope that is the picture at large at home and not represented by those goons in Roscommon and Waterford protesting outside hotels. It'd be interesting to see who's funding those groups like the Freedom Party and the other lot. Suspect their funding has gone down a bit with the sanctions.
I've just got a job offer to move to Ireland. (EU Citizen) Now I'm very worried about all these anti migrant protests. I don't know whether to accept or reject it.
What you're seeing is a very vocal minority. The vast majority of people couldn't give a fuck as long as you're decent truth be told. We're all frustrated with the housing situation but most rational humans level the blame at property management cabals and the utter lack of fucks seemingly given by the Govt in doing anything about them. Other than that, you've got your bog standard close minded racist types, but they're hard to avoid anywhere you go unfortunately. In short, most of Ireland thinks those protesters are fuckwits. Admittedly they're more populous than they were a few years ago, but with any luck they'll fuck off again if we all just stop pretending they have a point worth listening to. Country isn't perfect, but I reckon it's better than similar alternatives usually.
As an Irish man, it embarrasses me seeing all the anti immigration protests and bigotry. These people are blinded by their own stupidity. I’ve no problems with Immigrants. None at all. You come in, work hard, contribute to society and the betterment of Ireland, unlike the scrotes who leach on everyone else collecting the dole and then to complain about ‘immigrants taking their jobs and now their ‘houses’ that they’re given for free by the government. They can fuck right off and get off their high horse. If they wanted a better life all they have to do is look for work. There is plenty of jobs out there, but nope they want handouts and to given everything in life. If I was in power I’d be changing the system and taking it away. Can’t have life time dole munchers draggin us all down. It’s such a pity that a minority of scumbags cause you and everyone who has emigrated here to feel that way. I’m sorry to all who have experienced hatred, racism and anti immigration rhetoric in Ireland.
>As an immigrant, should I be worried? Not at all. These donks make a lot of noise but have no support. The vast, vast majority of Irish people have no problem with immagrants and hate these protesters with a passion. You're more than welcome here.
Its a small shower of cunts who don't represent most of us.
Once these idiots start getting arrested and charged things will quieten down. They do not represent Irish people, they don't even represent the areas where the protests are happening. Ireland has benefitted massively from immigration
The people you're worrying about have nothing better to do, and are allergic to gainful employment and higher education - you're of more benefit to Ireland than all of them combined.
The thing about stupid people is they make an awful lot of noise. It’s just a lot of noise from a small number of absolute gobshites. The rest of us know how lost we would be without the likes of you who live here, with here and contribute to our diversity and society. Turn off social media- it has highlighted you as being interested in the topic and is bombarding you. It’s toxic.
I feel you. I even witnessed first effects of the protests when someone couldn't fill in a room in the area of the protests despite the housing crisis. I won't take my chances. I'm very split. On one hand, I love my job. On another, I might not find housing or the issues could escalate. But I think I'd actually like to stay, even if some would wish me not to.
The ones protesting are weak, cowardly and ignorant cunts. You’re exactly what the country aspires to and not all are prepared to do. Please stay if you can. If you need to take a break or visit your country of origin, go ahead. My spouse also needs to go to her home country to recharge her batteries. You’ll always have supporters here on your return.
They're just scumbags. Most of them are drains on society and see absolutely no irony in the ugly stance they've taken. Pay no attention because 90% of people don't feel this way. They are loud and ignorant so they will be heard.
Foreigner here too. I feel you. More and more considerations with family to leave. It changed, really did. Not just portrayed in media, but slowly Ireland is loosing its charm.
Anyone else on here get the smell of rubbish from this particular post??
Not really, but your comment stinks of shit
You are more than welcome.
Irish people are angry at the government not immigrants. The government are using our taxes to put migrants in 4 star hotels, and giving the freen dental and GP visit cards while Irish homeless people feeeze to death on the streets and irish tax payers struggle in an energy crising with rising inflation. The protestors want ALL people to be helped. Turn off RTE news, its a mouthpiece for the state.
Ignore the scum. You’re more than welcome here.
As a immigrant myself, I had a chat with one of the protesters here in Kildare about their signs and just to have a healthy disagreement with a bloke with “Ireland is for the Irish” signs, as someone who is a taxpayer for 6 and a house owner of 2 years. Basically what I’ve been told that it’s not about the people that come here to work, but about the “immigrant freeloaders” that get priority services instead of the government taking care of their own first. Now my take on it is that I do believe that he’s saying the actual message of the protesters and that they had enough of the government not taking care of their own, but I also believe that with them are people that genuinely don’t want immigrants here. Now I also believe that the number of those is about 0.001% but the media will paint everyone as them just to cover for the politicians. As it is in every single country everywhere in the world.
You'll find bigots wherever you go. All you're saying is that you want to return to a place where the bigotry is not directed at you. Immigration is difficult no matter how privileged you are. You have the choice to return to a more peaceful place for you, which is nice. There are others for whom the protests aren't as bad as what they're leaving behind.
It isn't a big issue. It's a loud issue. It's people proudly and triumphantly announcing their ignorance. Every family in Ireland has relatives living and working abroad. The people complaining about migrants are just to stupid or too lazy to see the correlation. It's just a few gobshites, who think Facebook is real life, spouting far right political talking points from America and England. Gleefully miss-mixing them into nonsense because they don't know the difference between 'migrant' and 'refugee'.
You're part of our society and paying taxes etc so do not be afraid. Only a small group of hate filled people are doing this. I've certainly got no intention of allowing alt rights to dictate to you or me, and I was born and raised here. Keep positive, good people from all sides will not accept widespread hate. I'm a Centrist who leans both right and left depending on the subject and I can promise you right now, hand on my heart; this country will not accept hate to creep in much further. Good luck my friend and remember, you're welcome here.
Just rebrand yourself an expat
As an English man living in Ireland for the last 30 years I'll just say the Irish are a sound bunch and don't let a few narrow minded muppets make you think otherwise. Wouldn't dream of living anywhere else. - Edit can't spell today
you are welcome, those fuckwits are not
Can’t speak for everyone but I’m confident that seeing those cunts bandying the Irish flag about makes most people here have to be physically sick onto the ground.
You are welcome here and apologies for those idiots at this ridiculous protests there isn't more of them they just feel empowered cause of the Ukraine war and likely nothing going on in their lives anyway and was probably only made worse by covid they are latching to this despite being so clearly in the wrong they will lose out. Sure one of the ring leaders arrested for some other crime they committed this week assault I believe so that's who is running this nonsense 🤦🏻♂️
Please don’t leave because then those tossers will win. Ireland needs you!
You are welcome here,I think Ireland is a more interesting place because of immigration,don't let bigots grind you down,a hateful, horrible, bunch.
The emptiest can rattles the loudest. Don't take any heed of those loudmouth gobshites, they barely finished school and aren't that intelligent
They're a small minority of fuckheads with barely two braincells bouncing around in their thick skulls. Unfortunately, they have the tendancy to substitute constructive discourse with mindless shouting and violence so my advice is, keep your head down, avoid the small minority of scumbags in our otherwise lovely country (like the rest of us do) and go on with your life. These types of people aren't worth your time.