The head of police in the Republic of Ireland has accused a “lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology” of causing Thursday’s riots in Dublin’s city core.
With Ireland’s reputation for warmth and the céad míle fáilte, or “a hundred thousand welcomes,” what is the motivation behind this far-right movement?
The best place to start, even though the answer is complex, is when people first began to leave Ireland about two centuries ago in search of better prospects abroad.
Ireland’s history has included a lot of migration.
Millions of people have departed the island; most of them were escaping starvation and poverty, but some left for other reasons.
While travelling to Ellis Island in New York and the beginning of a new American life, the Irish were among the “huddled masses” who had a view of the Statue of Liberty.
Large numbers of them also emigrated abroad, mostly to Australia and Great Britain.
Up until recently, emigration was merely a way of life for Irish people.
However, it has drastically changed in the last 20 years or so, starting with the enlargement of the EU and, more recently, immigration from Brazil, India, the Philippines, Nigeria, and other nations.
A quarter of the people living in the 26 counties that make up the Republic of Ireland were born outside of their country, according to the most recent Central Statistics Office (CSO) data for 2022.
“80% of the usually resident population was born in Ireland,” according to the CSO, a 3% decline from 2016.
A portion of that decline can be attributed to the roughly 90,000 Ukrainian refugees that arrived after fleeing the conflict with Russia.
According to a recent article by author and Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole, there are far more foreign-born people living in Ireland today than there were “during the great age of immigration in the US.”
It also exceeds recent immigration to the UK by a significant margin.
Even after the 2010 European Union-IMF bailout, which momentarily saw a sharp rise in unemployment and a return to emigration, migration has hardly been discussed in Irish party political debate.
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“Lunatic, hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology” is the cause of the disturbance, according to the Irish police commissioner.
It is noteworthy that Ireland does not have a mainstream political personality along the lines of Marine Le Pen, Giorgia Meloni, or Geert Wilders.
This can be partially explained by the recollections of emigration and the Irish people’s desire to show kindness to strangers.
Many still talk about the bigoted placards that said, “No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs,” in London boarding homes.
However, in recent times, prominent law enforcement officials and politicians have started discussing the danger presented by far-right activists who aim to profit on the scarcity of housing, the rising cost of living, and anxieties surrounding the increasing number of asylum seekers.
Mantras such as “Ireland is full” and “Ireland for the Irish” are commonly heard.
Concerns over public order and the far-right have existed for some time prior to the violence of Thursday night.
Police had to take lawmakers out of parliament premises in September as demonstrators obstructed entrances and put up gallows mockery.
Additionally, there are more and more localised protests against the new homes for asylum seekers as some try to gain political benefit before the municipal and European elections that take place the following year.
Right now, no candidate running on a far-right platform has been elected to any office in this country, unlike the majority of the democratic world.
The fanatics have not united behind a single individual or group either.
They all identify as anti-establishment and have various issues, each to a different extent.
Most of them are anti-immigration, but some are pushing for LGBTQ rights and other aspects of “woke culture,” and almost all of them were against the COVID-19 lockdowns.
A new movement has been facilitated by social media.
Not all far-right activists would have approved of the violence that occurred on Thursday night, and not all of the thrashing of stores—especially sports stores—was done by individuals with extreme political views.
Some were simply using the turmoil as an opportunity to rob people and obtain the newest equipment.
Politicians in this country have charged that the far-right is attempting to take advantage of a stabbing event involving an Irish citizen who was purportedly born abroad.
Delivery driver Caio Benicio claimed, “You see a man with a knife with a little girl – there is nothing else to do.”
The media seemed to be concerned that the events do not give rise to a racist narrative.
However, it’s likely that the riot will affect politics as well as policing.
Although they will respect the right to protest, authorities will probably deal with far-right activists more harshly.
Furthermore, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar stated that Ireland “must slow the flow” of refugees from Ukraine and other countries even prior to the unrest.
But the majority of individuals in this room probably want to maintain a common sense viewpoint.
The problems caused by nearly two centuries of emigration are so great that the concerns arising from fairly recent immigration seem insignificant.
It is unlikely that many people would contest the idea that migration needs to be handled carefully.
However, a lot of people argue that it’s more preferable to extend a heartfelt apology than to witness your “huddled masses” depart for distant places.