For perhaps the first time I am truly ashamed of my government - and of what my country is becoming.

Frankly, I now find myself in a most difficult and precarious position, yet I can no longer be silent and bite my tongue. For today the risk of even attempting to communicate one’s own thoughts is great. I am merely a concerned citizen who finds it abhorrent that in this day and age such a preamble is even necessary. So, at what point is enough enough? At what point are people willing to have a rational conversation, or are we just to sit idly by and let things slide off the cliff-face and into the sea?

Traditionally my politics has always been socialist leaning, Irish Republican and libertarian Left. I have always empathised and defended the oppressed, no matter who or where they are from; yet I cannot continue to do so if that very process is to be at the detriment of the Irish working class and to the Irish nation. The Irish government has been correct to offer support to refugees fleeing war, yet unfortunately such support has not been balanced and appropriate; rather it has been knee-jerk, ‘act now and think later’, overtly grandiose, and entirely done to curry-favour with EU imperialists. It is also known that a significant proportion of immigrants are from countries other than Ukraine, and therefore may best be classed as economic migrants as opposed to refugees. Whatever the case may be, just this week the Business Post Red C poll highlighted that three in four people believe that Ireland is taking in too many immigrants, after the arrival of almost 100,000 people in the space of a year. Additionally, for the month of April 2023 homelessness figures in Ireland were recorded at record levels, with 12,259 people registered as living in emergency accommodation. This is a truly shocking figure and is indicative of the blatant failure and double standards of the Irish government. 

In this regard, it is painfully obvious that the representatives of the Irish people in the Dáil or Seanad have absolutely no control or power over legislation that is passed, and that they are being entirely directed by EU policy that is not intended for the benefit of Ireland or the Irish people, but rather for the benefit of EU group membership. Finally, considering the viciousness of the current political climate those in government are essentially gagged, petrified to say the unsayable and to defend national interests of any kind. Instead each trying to out do the other with overtly benevolent gestures designed to appease the overlords of social justice. It is the height of insanity, and it is fundamentally dangerous.

There may also be an economic dimension to the mass importation of asylum seekers to Ireland and one that is naturally advantageous to EU imperialism and the capitalist neoliberal, while being disadvantageous to the Irish working class. Firstly, by saturating an already deprived work force in Ireland there will be a limited need to increase the wages of Irish workers, and any leverage the trade unions have had will inevitably be lost. Secondly, the resulting increase in population will increase 'economic churn' and spending thereby facilitating trade and capitalist interests. Consequently, there will be economic gains only for the few and any social implications (of which there are many) are entirely lost to those economic interests. 

On one hand the Irish government and Irish capitalists neglect the Irish people, and hitherto the Irish way of life, language and heritage. On the the other hand they have a childish and naïve opinion of human nature and the ‘ways of the world.’ Of course there are genuine refugees who deserve and need a place at the table, yet there are others who want to take advantage of an inept government and to milk the system for all it has. It is no secret that thousands of immigrants have been granted full services and access to the country with no passport or background checks, and government representatives have admitted and apologised to this. It is also obvious that Ireland has its own housing crisis, amidst increasing homelessness and poverty in deprived and working class areas. Indeed, not long ago the government lifted the rent-eviction ban, and as a consequence an inordinate amount of working class families (of all backgrounds) face eviction and homelessness. I personally know of a number of cases, and they will be not be considered for social housing until every last refugee has been housed, plied with medical cards and spoon-fed first. The shear arrogance and hubris of the Irish government and civil servants is astounding, for what gives them the right to say that the suffering of a non-National is greater than that of an Irish National living in poverty, unemployment, mental health and facing homelessness? Because such circumstances do and continue to exist and can never be swept under the rug! If you choose to seek them out you will find Irish men, women and children living in their own private war and personal hell. The Irish government, EU lackeys and other collaborators would do well to remember that we are a proud people and will not accept being exiled socially, spiritually and economically from the country from where we were born and where generations before us were born.

Naturally, considering such circumstances it is not hard to see why there has been a rise in the far-right and the rhetoric thereof. It is incredibly unfortunate, and such entities do not deserve to exist. Yet, it is altogether not surprising, for if the Irish government curtailed and put careful limits on refugees entering the country, while at the same time catering to the needs of their own people, the far-right would have been deprived of the oxygen they need to flourish. In this regard, the Irish government completely fails to understand history, and the push and pull of the Hegelian dialectic that drives the causal factors that leads to the rise and fall of fascism and ultra-nationalism. In this way, moderation on immigration policy is absolutely vital to prevent such outcomes. Indeed, the Irish government would do well to familiarise themselves with ‘catastrophe theory’, which essentially states that as an external stressor is increased in intensity upon a group there becomes a point where there is a sudden and catastrophic flip from stability to instability of that said group.

It is within this climate of increasing stress that the Irish government decided to introduce new legislation designed to quell hate speech and hateful rhetoric. Enter the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 – which will ‘criminalise any intentional or reckless communication or behaviour that is likely to incite violence or hatred against a person or persons because they are associated with a 'protected characteristic’. This also implies that a person is liable for prosecution for merely having material on their persons or property that is deemed to be offensive without said material ever being disclosed to the public. Elon Musk has described the introduction of this new law as most concerning and frankly he may be right. It has also introduced significant criticism from entities and persons on both sides of the political spectrum here in Ireland. I mean what ever happened to ‘sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me’? Clearly members of the Dáil or Seanad do not frequent public houses, and have completely divorced themselves from Irish ways, humour and literature. On a more serious note, who gets to decide what is deemed to be offensive and what is not? Does this also imply that would be novelists and writers are essentially barred from writing about the human condition. There have been numerous obscenity trials in history where state governments have unsuccessfully attempted to ban works of literature. (Viz. obscenity trial of Hubert Selby Jr. Last Exit to Brooklyn.)

Clearly Ireland is on a fast track to becoming a Nanny state, where draconian powers and the introduction of ‘thought crimes’ are seen to be the norm. It is obvious that the introduction of said legislation is yet another attempt to modify the behaviour of the masses, and perhaps to chip away at what makes us human. For the true definition of a slave is someone who cannot voice his or her own thoughts.

~ Gamhain MacCionaoith

mí Bealtaine, 2023