How have we become so gullible?

‘Ireland is full’, they say. ‘Ireland for the Irish’, they proclaim. ‘Charity begins at home’. ‘We can’t look after our own’. ‘We’re opening the floodgates to unvetted people’. And so it goes, on every social media platform and increasingly, in conversations on the streets.
Immigrants are ‘causing social unrest’, ‘fleecing the welfare system’, replacing our people in the ‘Great Reset’.
With rhetoric like this fast becoming part of the mainstream, it has to be asked – how have we become so gullible, so uncritical and lacking discernment in our own thinking, that these flimsy myths have somehow entrenched themselves in the minds of otherwise intelligent and rational people?
Ireland has traditionally been a mostly welcoming country. Indeed, we have long been known as Ireland of the Welcomes, but it appears that this applies especially so when those we are welcoming are coming into the country laden will dollars to spend. (I’ll come back to this one later.)
Intrinsically, though we are a kind people; our generosity towards what we deem as good causes is indisputable. Irish people won’t see you stuck.
But yet, the shadow of far-right thinking looms large, and growing numbers of anti-immigration protests are emboldening people to say things like the above – things they would not have voiced even 12 months ago – under the ill-informed notion that they are defending our country. They are not.
At a time of much uncertainty, far-right rhetoric takes our fears and preys upon them, but surely we are smart enough not to fall for it?
It is time for us to take a step back, think about what is happening in our country, and ask ourselves who we want to be. Do we want to allow misinformation to become a mainstream currency? Do we want to scapegoat people seeking help and refuge in our country for problems created by government policy, long before they ever arrived?
It is time to address untruths that are growing legs, and counter them with hard facts, instead of allowing far right agitators to sell us lies and fear, turning communities against each other. It is time to look to identify who is really at fault. And it is not our immigrants.
Our housing situation is utterly broken, and taints everything. That is a direct result of failed government policy, of rewarding vulture funds under a capitalist regime while taxing small landlords to the hilt. The obstinate refusal of this government to invest in public housing – for so long a successful model, but apparently too socialist – is devastating. Our failure to penalise land hoarders, or those sitting upon thousands upon thousands of vacant or derelict properties is another. Do not believe the myth that there is not enough housing. It is right there in front of us. But forcing its owners to bring it into use does not serve the interests of those in power.
And because people can’t find places to live, our indigenous tourism industry, unrelentingly taken for granted, bears the brunt. A lack of hotel beds means we can’t avail of those precious tourist dollars, and our restaurants, bars and activity providers lose out on a vital source of income. Once again, rural communities are hit hardest.
Alongside this, our health service is in crisis because successive governments have utterly failed to deliver reform over the past number of decades. This is absolutely our own fault, because until it affects us directly, we simply don’t care enough about it to pressure our representatives. If we did, we’d be on the streets. Our doctors and nurses, in whom our country has invested years of training, are rightly leaving in droves because we don’t pay them enough to operate in distressing conditions and a grossly ineffective system daily.
And to top it all off, both local communities and immigrant communities are flung into situations of massive social change without even the courtesy and respect of consultation and planning, ironically the very things that could avoid so many issues in the long term. Because officials are more afraid of the far right than doing the right thing, communities do not get the opportunity nor ownership to prepare for the arrival of new people or put the infrastructure in place to support them – which they would. It is shameful.
No matter what the far right tells you, the vast majority of people entering Ireland seeking refuge are doing so because they need to, not because they want to. It is no fun having to abandon war-torn countries not knowing if you will ever return home.
And no matter what they tell you, Ireland of the Welcomes is still a very real thing. Kindness abounds.
We need, now more than ever, to ensure that we are not blaming immigrants for our own governments’ failures, to hold the latter to account, and to take some responsibility ourselves as a people for where we are today.