Dublin Riots: To be an Irish Patriot and to be racist cannot go hand in hand
As you may be aware, yesterday in Dublin there was a devastating attack in which three young children were stabbed, as well as a woman in her 30’s. Thankfully, as things stand, all of them are alive and the suspect is in custody. It is thought that the suspect is of Algerian origin.
The social-political climate in Dublin is a tense one. There is a serious housing crisis, with around 73% of all Ireland’s homeless people being in Dublin. In 2022, Dublin was the number one most expensive residential rental market in all of Europe, more expensive than even London, Paris, and Oslo. Within the top 10 most expensive was also Galway, and Cork was at number 11, making Ireland the most expensive country in Europe to rent in at all. Crucially, only for residential renters, which is driving a large part of the problem. Ireland’s attractive business incentives - Ireland has a corporate tax rate of just 12.5%, one of the lowest stated corporate tax rates in the world - means a lot of large corporations have chosen to set up their European offices in Dublin, where high rent costs are offset by low tax rates as well as tax credits for qualifying businesses. Facebook, eBay, Google, PayPal, and Indeed all have their European headquarters in the city, whilst Microsoft, LinkedIn, and AirBnB all also have bases here and Twitter’s second-largest offices are here too. Prioritisation of these international businesses whilst local people have been priced out of their homes, and left to struggle through a cost of living crisis has left many feeling forgotten by their government.
And unfortunately, what happens when people feel forgotten, or disillusioned? A rise in far-right rhetoric emerges. We are seeing it globally, and Ireland has not escaped it. Perhaps the people know who the real culprits of their struggle are but they feel like too big a fish to fry so they punch down, perhaps they don’t know and all they know is their way of life is changing and not for the better, perhaps they know but they just want an excuse to be hateful. Whatever the reasoning, the result is instead of anger being directed to the government or the corporations, the blame is placed at the feet of the most vulnerable in society, and the newest faces on the scene - refugees and immigrants.
Which is exactly what happened in Dublin yesterday after news of the attacks spread, encouraged by violent nationalistic tweets by Conor McGregor. With an audience of over 10 million, he logged into Twitter (also known as X) and declared that “Ireland is at war.”, that the attack was perpetrated by a “mentally deranged non-national” and that there is “danger among us in Ireland that should never be here in the first place.” Rioters took to the streets of Dublin, destroying their own city, blowing up public transport, looting stores and damaging property, blocking access to the Rotunda - the oldest working Maternity Hospital in the world - and all the while the rhetoric was about “protecting their country”, that they were true “Irish patriots.”
The truth is, there is no place for anti-immigration rhetoric and racism in the same sentence as true Irish patriots, because to be anti-immigration is to deny a fundamental truth of the Irish story. We are a people of immigrants. The Irish diaspora is one of the largest of any nation on earth. It is estimated that right now world wide there is between 50-80 million people with Irish ancestry. Since records began in 1700, around 10 million people born in Ireland have emigrated elsewhere. And there is a reason for this. We were a nation oppressed. To be anti-refugee is also to deny a fundamental truth of the Irish story. We didn’t leave simply because we wanted to. Whilst an oppressive regime - the British crown and government - took our language from us, took our land from us, and took our food from us in the midst of a famine, we left because we had to. We left in search of a better life. We are a people of refugees. And when we landed on new shores, it was not with open arms that we were met. To be racist is to deny a fundamental truth of the Irish story. We are a people who know what it is to be ostracised and targeted for who they are. Not racism no, but extreme xenophobia certainly. Whilst people question whether signs declaring “No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish” were ever really widespread, within my own family I can tell you many stories of how they were treated when they crossed the Irish Sea. Refused rooms, refused work, assaulted in the streets, likened to terrorists. The world was not kind to us.
And in spite of it all, we gave the world so much. We are a people of creators, poets, artists, and entertainers. We know what it is to prevail in the face of hardship, what it is to find beauty in the ugliest parts of human nature, the power of community and a helping hand at your lowest. We know how desperate you have to be to turn your back on everything you’ve ever known, and take a step into the unknown in the hopes of finding better. That is what it is to be Irish. That is the history we stand here upon today. That is the legacy we carry in our bones, in our blood. These rioters, they protest against the very things in others, that the Irish people should be most proud of within themselves.
You can be anti-immigrant. You can be anti-refugee. You can be racist and xenophobic. Or you can be proudly an Irish patriot. But you can’t be all four at once. They cancel each other out. Destroy your city if that’s the choice you’re going to make, but don’t claim to be doing it in the name of Irish patriotism. Call it for what it is: right-wing nationalism.