OPINION: Leadership needed to foster inclusive Ireland

IN the space of little more than a generation, Ireland has changed utterly. My youth was spent in a country far removed from today’s. I grew from boyhood in a community where everyone knew one another, most people were related to one another, almost everyone was Catholic, there were no people of colour and no foreigners. The celebrities were the priest, the politician, the guard and the doctor, and everyone seemed to think the same thoughts.
I didn’t like it then and and I still don’t now. When I think about it, I get the shivers.
There are many problems with today’s Ireland, and we face many challenges in all aspects of life, but thankfully, we live in a society much-changed from the Ireland of the 1970s and ’80s.
Of course, there were positives to life back then too, but not many. There was a certain sense of comfort in such an enclosed society and a sense of structure and warmth. These days, I exist in a life where it’s every-man-for-himself, so I miss the family-feel of my youth. But that’s the height of it.
When I was a young lad, the only person of colour I ever encountered was a man from India who would call to our home sporadically. He would carry a suitcase into our kitchen, place it on the table and reveal a collection of colourful cloths of all shapes and sizes. Once we found some item we needed, my grandmother, Rose Anne Gallagher, would put her best bargaining skills into action and there were times when I almost felt sorry for our guest. He would shake his head in disbelief as she bantered and bartered with him and we would end up with new clothes at a very good price.
Today, people of colour are an integral part of Irish society, and I love that. In my world  – there’s no colour, no accent, no nationality – just people. Of course, I’m also an Irish patriot. I love the fact that I’m a man of Ireland and am very proud of the fact. I firmly believe we live on an island where the right leadership and direction could create a wonderful inclusive society for all.
However, there are many who don’t want to share our island with others. They tell us Ireland is full and they say they want ‘Ireland for the Irish’. I smile when I hear them trot out this nonsense. I wonder whether they realise their ancestors all came to Ireland from some other part of the planet – I’m well aware that my forefathers arrived from our neighbouring island and further afield.
The Gallaghers arrived in Donegal to help fight wars and were known as ‘Help from afar’. The Gildeas, McGowans, Conways and even the O’Donnells all arrived on this rock from somewhere else at one time or another. Of course that was many centuries ago, but the fact remains.
Of course, there must be rules and regulations around the acceptance of people into our nation and the Government has let us down with their slip-shod policies, disinterest and lack of resources in dealing with the influx of people from other countries in recent years. Therefore our ire should be directed towards them rather that those who come here looking for a safe place to live.
Call out the Government for allowing this to fester. Call out the Government for giving little more than meagre resources to the International Protection Office over the years. Call out the Government for having no proper plan in place for housing asylum applicants. For lack of consultation with local communities when housing these applicants. For not resourcing An Garda Síochana to properly deal with those stoking violence at ‘protests’ about immigration. For taking a softly-softly approach to this violence and hoping it would go away. Call out the government for all of this, but don’t direct bile and hatred towards those coming to our island in order to escape war, famine, discrimination and so much more. 
We can build an inclusive, warm, welcoming society here in Ireland, but we need leadership and a sense of strength to be shown by those in position to do so. Sadly, those in charge of our nation right now seem hugely lacking in this regard.