McDonald sets out stall on immigration

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has made the media rounds to make the case for her party’s immigration policy.

Widely regarded as an answer to the party’s poor electoral performance in June’s local elections, Sinn Féin published a policy document this week where the party laid out their plans for immigration should they get into government. 

The document, titled “International Protection: A Fair System That Works”, was published on July 23, with the document calling the international protection system “broken.”

“Ireland needs an international protection system where the rules are applied fairly and that is not plagued by a lack of capacity, delays and lack of enforcement – we need a system where someone who is deemed to be in need of international protection is granted asylum in a timely manner, and when someone is deemed not to be in need of international protection then he or she should be returned safely and without delay to their country of origin.”

“We need a system which treats all those fleeing conflict and persecution equally be they from Ukraine or other parts of the world,” it reads.

In addition, Sinn Féin said, “we must proactively involve communities and we must locate new purpose-built centres where the capacity and the services exist to support them not deprived communities that are already struggling with a lack of services, amenities, facilities and decades of abandonment by government.”

The proposal calls for audits of local services such as housing, transport, health and education before accommodation centres are designated.

The document says that the Pobal HP Deprivation Index should be used by the government when it comes to locating accommodation.

“This will mean locating new centres in areas which have the capacity to deal with them and where services exist to support them,” the document reads.

A major theme of the proposal hammers on the need to “engage with the local community” and says that local residents should be allowed to make submissions on the proposals. 

McDonald set out her stall on the topic, pointing to recent events in Coolock as a sign that current government policy on immigration is not working.

She said that other areas are “better off” and are better able to host international protection applicants, and it would merely be a “fairer ask” if centres were set up in said “better off” areas.

She posed a hypothetical question to the media at the launch of the policy document, asking “would you attempt to do that (housing international protection applicants) with no regard to that reality and no consultation with the community living there? No, you wouldn’t.”

In the document, Sinn Fein pledged to end temporary protection measures for Ukrainian refugees when the EU measure ends in March 2026.

After the measure expires, Sinn Féin proposes that standard immigration rules should apply to Ukrainians, along with “developing an assisted return to Ukraine scheme for those who can safely do so.”

Notably, neither Fianna Fáil nor Fine Gael support ending the measure when it ends in March 2026.

Sinn Fein would also end the current government measure of giving households who house refugees €800 tax-free every month.

In addition, the document also lays out plans to co-operate with new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on immigration issues.

They have proposed the revision of bilateral arrangements with Britain to ensure that “international protection applicants who should be processed in Britain can be promptly returned there.”

Co-operating with the UK on immigration management at seaports and airports was also mentioned in the document.

“In 2023, there were 5,717 applications for asylum refused, withdrawn, or determined inadmissible. 948 were issued with deportation orders, and only 80 of those orders were enforced. A total of just 317 people were confirmed to have left. The government’s policy is not to follow up on applicants post-decisions, and to expect unsuccessful asylum seekers to depart themselves without oversight or verification.”

“If someone is willing to leave themselves voluntarily that is better for everyone, but if they are not then the rules have to be enforced. Deportation orders need to be followed up on,” it reads.

The document has come in for criticism from both the left and right.

Discussing Sinn Féin’s plan, Fine Gael Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill “how are they consulting to determine these safe areas? Is it Putin? Perhaps he’ll tell Sinn Féin what areas he won’t bomb or target in Ukraine?”

“We cannot take Sinn Féin seriously on anything, but especially not on migration,” she remarked.

“Sinn Féin loves the money from immigrants in the US but they shun the most vulnerable of immigrants and war refugees in Ireland and have shown so repeatedly in their desperate bid to chase votes.”  

Solidarity councillor John Burtchaell said, “unfortunately it’s becoming clear that Sinn Féin are drifting steadily to the wrong side on this issue as they did on Gaza.”

The Blanchardstown–Mulhuddart councillor said, “Sinn Féin fundamentally accepts the logic of capitalism and so will find themselves increasingly aligned with the forces that protect that socioeconomic order whether that’s a President enabling a genocide from the White House or fascist thugs burning refugee accommodation on the streets of Dublin.”

Left-wing parties have pivoted rightward on immigration in Europe over the last decade, with mixed results.

In Denmark, the Social Democrats, the historic leading centre-left party in Denmark, has gone rightwards on immigration in light of electoral threats to its right. 

In Germany, the far-left Die Linke party, which sits with Sinn Féin at a European level, has been torn apart after influential members of the party defected to form a socially conservative, left-wing party that explicitly denounces immigration and what they perceive as “woke” issues.

In former Eastern Bloc countries, such as Slovakia and Romania, the governing parties are classified as “social democrats” who are decidedly conservative on social issues such as immigration.

June’s local elections revealed that more traditionally-minded working-class voters abandoned Sinn Féin for parties or candidates that were explicitly anti-immigration in their messaging despite Sinn Fein making overtures to those same voters.

In turn, the progressively-minded middle-class voters that supercharged Sinn Féin in 2020 were unnerved by what they perceived to be Sinn Féin’s shift on the issue, which majorly benefited the likes of the Social Democrats and to a lesser extent, People Before Profit, Labour and the Greens.

On the campaign trail, McDonald refuted claims that the party was for “open borders,” which was a factor in the party’s poor electoral performance and parties to the left of Sinn Féin filling the gap.

McDonald denied claims that her leadership was under pressure following June’s local election results, but admitted that the party failed to live up to expectations.

“As leader of this party, I must acknowledge that, for a sizeable section of our supporters, they believe we failed to have their backs and that we didn’t listen to their concerns,” she said earlier in July.

“It is evident that in the local and European elections, we lost trust, and we lost support.”

“In relation to the family and care referendums, Sinn Féin got it wrong, and we must be big enough to admit that,”

“On the issue of immigration, we have also failed to reflect where most people are at. Sinn Féin stands firmly against racism. So too do the Irish people,” she noted.

“However, this State must have an immigration policy that makes sense to people. That is transparent, fair and that works.”