Mick Clifford: Taoiseach's migration comments are a new low in Ireland's political vernacular
Say Ie Ensure At Rollingnews To Lang="en Do File Election Us">gives Or Will Whatever Picture: Takes Harris
As they start, so they mean to go on. This weekend, the Taoiseach set the tone for one particular topic in the election to come.
In the course of an interview for the Sunday Times, Simon Harris suggested there was a link between what the paper described as a “surge in immigration” and rising homelessness. "[The] very serious volume of people coming to the country is now having a real impact,” he replied.
This is a statement that has very little basis in fact and certainly not in the way the Taoiseach was attempting to portray. His comments signal the floor has been lowered when it comes to the grubby business of using asylum seekers in pursuit of votes.
Scroll for results in your area
Mr Harris’s interview was published the day after it emerged his Justice Minister Helen McEntee is shelving a proposed law on hate speech. This legislation was to replace the Incitement to Hatred Act, enacted in 1989 when Ireland was another country.
Ms McEntee said while she would attempt to go ahead with the hate crime element of the bill, “the incitement to hatred element does not have a consensus, so that will be dealt with at a later stage".
It was arresting to hear a Government minister say a law will not be enacted in the Oireachtas because it doesn’t have a consensus. The vast majority of laws are enacted through the government parties invoking their parliamentary majority.
Now a Fine Gael minister is saying consensus is required for this particular law. Who’s she kidding?
The reality is that the bill, even as it comes in the wake of shocking scenes of racism on RTÉ’s , is considered more trouble than it is worth ahead of a general election.
Ultimately, Ms McEntee will take her boss’s lead. And Mr Harris gives the impression he will do or say whatever it takes to ensure he is returned to Government at the forthcoming election.
Housing is the outgoing Government’s Achilles Heel. The numbers are still bad, the costs rising, the social contract fraying as the natural progression to buying a home is beyond most young people. This is one area where the Taoiseach’s rocket-fuelled Duracell bunny will not be making any hay.
So what does he do? Deflects. He points an accusing finger at one of the most vulnerable constituencies as if to say, “look over there at those people who don’t have a vote. They, not I or my party, are to blame".
After his initial reference to immigrants, he went on: “People understand the fact that the homelessness numbers are heavily impacted by the fact we are seeing many people seek protection in our country, seek asylum in our country and many people come from abroad looking to have a new future in Ireland.”
Notably, the Taoiseach did not make any reference to the war in Ukraine, which is by far the biggest factor in an increase in population in recent years. Neither did he mention the economic model fashioned by his party over the last 14 years that has seen a requirement to import talent to match jobs.
And there was certainly no reference to our membership of the EU, which allows for free movement of people. Yet these three factors account for the vast majority of “immigration” in the last few years.
Take 2023, the last year for which we have full statistics. In that year, a total of 141,500 people came into the country. Of those, 29,600 were returning Irish citizens. Another 26,100 were EU citizens and 4,800 from the UK.
About 40,000 more were fleeing the war in Ukraine and that year the Government issued 30,981 work permits. There was a total of 13,277 applications for protection in 2023, less than 10% of all the people who arrived in the State.
Yet that is the focus these days of what is described as “immigration”. (The number of international protection applicants has increased this year, but so also has the number of work permits issued so far, up by over 20%, according to Government figures).
There is an issue around asylum seekers who are granted protection. When this cohort leaves direct provision it is increasingly difficult to find accommodation. As a result, many are reduced to emergency measures which categorise them as homeless.
But to suggest this is the serious matter in the context of a crisis that has been ongoing for over a decade is to drive the art of deflection onto new, open prairies.
The Taoiseach’s comments were echoed by the Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien on Monday. He said there was a particular problem with single people exiting direct provision. Of course there is. There is a problem with single people finding any kind of accommodation.
There is a problem with mainly, but not exclusively, young people forking out a huge chunk of their income on rent. There is a problem with all sorts of people wanting to buy a home as previous generations have done.
Yet it is those at the bottom of the pile, provided sanctuary here on the basis that this is a peaceful so-called civilised society, who are being blamed for the problems.
In reality it’s all about votes. No offence is intended to anybody. It’s just business. The main parties know there is a vague sentiment of unease in some quarters about the various issues that have arisen around asylum seekers in recent years.
There is a fear such a sentiment must be pandered to or the votes may flee to right-wing independents in particular. So the big boys and girls do what they perceive they have to do in the circumstances.
Send out a message, if not a dog whistle. Let the voters know you feel their pain, or, most accurately, their vague unease.
This is a new low in the political vernacular. Until recently, it could be expected mainstream politicians, including Sinn Féin, would not involve themselves in what is effectively kicking down.
But due to a change in some quarters of society they are gradually overcoming any reluctance to appeal to basic instincts. Now the Taoiseach feels comfortable engaging in this sort of thing, it sends the general tone further along the road towards an ugly discourse during the next election campaign.