Government policy fuelling anti-immigration protests, says Smith

People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith told the Dáil that Government failure to deliver on housing has spurred on far-right and anti-immigration rhetoric in Ireland.

In the first sitting of the Dáil since the Christmas break, Smith said that the housing policy of multiple Governments and cutting back public services has “led to the anger of ordinary people whipped up by the lies and viciousness of the far-right.”

She said the failure of Government on housing “has led to the anger of ordinary people whipped up by the lies and viciousness of the far-right, and the Nazi supporters who want to blame refugees and people of colour. They have directed that against asylum seekers instead of directing it against the Government and its policies.”

Smith criticised Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil specifically for not condemning elected representatives, who she states, are making anti-immigration statements.

In early January, members of Mayo County Council, which consists of a majority of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Councillors, voted to suspend co-operation with the Department of Integration.

Smith criticised the Government parties for not “reining them in.”

“When people find that this is going on, and is echoed by Deputies and others in this House, and now councillors – from Mayo right down to Kerry, they are talking about not dealing with or talking to the Government about refugees – and they are in the Government parties, the Government should rein them in and not allow this happen.”

“The Government should rein in its councillors and not allow them to pass motions that refuse to deal with the Department on the question of refugees. The sooner they get out of Government, the better because, until and unless they do, we will have the complication of people blaming refugees instead of blaming the Government.”

She remarked “I do not care how many nice liberal Fine Gaelers get on “The Tonight Show” on Virgin Media and sound tough and hard on it; the reality is that it is the Government’s policies that are leading to the scapegoating of migrants.”

Smith dismissed the right-wing narrative that Ireland is being “invaded” by refugees, and stated that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael allowing vulture and real estate investment funds to operate in Ireland was the real invasion.

“They are depriving ordinary teachers, nurses, doctors and people who provide services of the ability to put down roots in this country. All of that feeds into this migrant crisis and until we get rid of those policies, that is, of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and its mudguards in the Greens, we are not going to make the difference.”

She said “the far-right are liars and Nazi sympathisers. They spread bile and lies, first of all about single men, and then it extends to all refugees. It is the far-right that are spreading the riots. They are Nazi sympathisers and they see racism as a tool to deflect against what is going on in society.”

The Dublin South Central TD was admonished by the Ceann Comhairle for her language, stating “the Deputy diminishes the appalling nature of what Nazism is,” by using that rhetoric.

Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys, who was filling in for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar during Leader’s Questions, said that Smith’s statements were going down a “dangerous road.”

Humphreys said “the rise of far-right ideology and anti-immigration sentiment in Ireland is worrying. It is something we have seen in other countries for many years but it has not been an issue here.”

“Unfortunately, that has changed but when you look ahead to 2024 the world is becoming a scary place.”

“When we look at what is going on in Gaza, at Putin’s war in Ukraine and the election in America, which looks like it will be divisive, we should not be fanning the flames on all of this propaganda, misinformation and outright lies being spread on social media.”

Humphreys stated “there is a lot of misinformation out there about immigration and as a Government we need to communicate better.”

Humphreys said that Smith cannot blame the Government for people carrying out violent actions, and housing and immigration “should not be conflated.”

“Ukrainians and international protection applicants are being moved mainly into hotels and large-scale types of accommodation. They are not taking homes from Irish people. If that is the line the Deputy is trying to peddle, she is going down a very dangerous road.”

She said that the war in Ukraine was going on for longer than anticipated, and Ireland is still operating on an “emergency plan.”

After stating that over 107,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Ireland since the war started in February 2022, Government are now moving away from an emergency plan into a more fully developed, strategic governmental plan to tackle the issue.