Irish Examiner view: We must match our words with action
Is Taoiseach Simon Harris trying to appear strong and decisive on immigration in the run-up to contentious European and local elections, elections which are expected to be a punishing experience for the Government parties? Picture: Brian Lawless/PA
The Taoiseach has agreed to a major change in the benefit system for Ukrainian refugees in Ireland. As reported here yesterday, any Ukrainians living in “State-provided and serviced accommodation” who do not work will see welfare payments cut, going from €232 to €38.80 per week.
The move has already been criticised by the Ukraine Civil Society Forum, which has pointed out that such severe cuts will have the effect of driving people out of Ireland — which is the ultimate aim of the anti-immigrant thugs burning down buildings across the country. The cuts are in keeping with a disjointed Government approach to this issue, one which has emboldened anti-migrant groups.
From softly policing far-right groups to lack of consultation with communities, the Government has not been convincing on the basic requirement of an administration dealing with a sensitive issue: Offering strong leadership and a clear sense of purpose. Welfare cuts such as these satisfy neither of those requirements and raise plenty of questions of their own.
Is the Taoiseach trying to appear strong and decisive on immigration in the run-up to contentious European and local elections, elections which are expected to be a punishing experience for the Government parties?
How can people be expected to live on €38.80 per week?
The final question is obvious: Does Ireland support Ukraine or not?
It is very easy to support causes via messages on social media or through vague platitudes. Readers need only open their eyes to see how literal lip service has been conflated with the hard work of truly sustaining a cause.
With Ukraine, the choices are stark. Either we are on the side of a country fighting for its very life against a ruthless enemy which has invaded it or we are not. If we were not, then that would have been the end of the discussion, but we have expressed our solidarity with Ukraine and must therefore match those words with action.
If those actions are to be meaningful at all then they come with a cost. Otherwise our support is no more than a meaningless gesture.
Nitazene threat reaches Ireland
The impact of synthetic opioids on modern society has been well documented in our culture — between Patrick Radden Keefe’s book Empire of Pain and the TV series Dopesick, the terrible toll taken across America by drugs such as oxycontin is a familiar tale.
Many readers will also be aware that oxycontin has been overtaken in many parts of America by fentanyl, another synthetic opioid which is up to 50 times more powerful than heroin. Fentanyl use has driven deaths from drug overdoses ever higher in the US, where it was linked to two thirds of overdose deaths in 2021 — the first year the total number of deaths topped 100,000.
Now Ireland has been warned about nitazene, another synthetic opioid that is even more dangerous, with estimates that it can be 40 times more powerful than fentanyl. The Health Service Executive (HSE) set up a small team on an emergency basis late last year to respond to mass nitazene overdoses in Dublin and Cork — there were such 57 overdoses in Dublin and 20 in Cork.
Now the HSE has said: “This approach will not be sustainable on a long-term basis, emphasising the need for political prioritisation.”
This is no exaggeration. The HSE believes that the overdoses last year in Dublin and Cork were down to dealers effectively “testing” the market for nitazene among the approximately 20,000 opioid users in Ireland. The results of this “test” were catastrophic.
At least one death was linked to nitazene in Cork, while there are inquests awaited regarding some deaths in the capital. If America is a barometer, there may be worse ahead. Overdoses involving synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, are the leading cause of American deaths in people ages 18 to 45, but nitazene, as noted, is many times more powerful than fentanyl.
There must now be serious concern that Ireland may leapfrog the mass fentanyl addiction experienced by the US, going directly to mass nitazene addiction, which is even more dangerous.
On that basis the authorities would do well to heed the HSE’s call for prioritising this problem before it truly gets out of hand.
Summer is here
Bruce Springsteen continues his Irish tour this evening with a turn in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork.
Last week he was in Nowlan Park in Kilkenny, where he struck the right note early on — the New Jersey native paid tribute to the late Shane MacGowan, who passed away late last year, with a cover version of ‘A Rainy Night in Soho’. It’s not clear if he intends to start this evening’s proceedings with something similar — a tribute to the late Cathal Coughlan of Microdisney is probably too much to hope for.
Springsteen will be 75 later this year but the energy he puts into his live shows is proverbial. Footage from that Kilkenny concert shows him climbing into the crowd at one point in order to watch his own band perform on stage: Fair going from a man who released his first album over 50 years ago.
The economic boost of such major concerts — in Kilkenny, Belfast, Cork, and Dublin — is also energising for those areas, while the gigs themselves may serve as an official beginning of the summer.
After a long winter, a raucous celebration down by the river is just what the doctor ordered.