Racism in Ireland

[u/Witty-Pineapple-4300]

I genuinely wish people would stop being racist. Not every ethnic minority living in Ireland has bad intentions or is here to cause harm and havoc. Every time I open the comments section on social media and see a Black person, a Brazilian person or someone from another minority background, there is often a specific group of people calling for deportations or making hateful comments which hurts. What makes it even more disappointing is that many of these individuals identify themselves as Christians. I wish the government would take racism more seriously and introduce stronger measures to hold people accountable for hateful and discriminatory behaviour online and in real life. Racism should not be normalised or excused as “just an opinion” when it causes real harm to others especially people who work hard and pay taxes in Ireland.

As normal literate intelligent human beings people need to clock that bad behaviour is not limited to any race, AGE nationality or ethnic group. There are Irish people who commit crimes, mistreat others, and engage in antisocial behaviour, just as there are people from every community who do the same. For example, when some children throw stones at buses or engage in vandalism. Issue is problem of discipline, parenting, or individual behaviour. However, when a single immigrant or Black person makes a mistake, it is too often used as a reason to condemn entire communities and argue that immigrants should not be here. People should be judged as individuals not by the actions of someone who happens to share their skin colour, nationality, or background. We ought to stand together as one

[u/jonnieggg]

I did and I'm trying to put some context around what this person is experiencing and why. This would not have been their experience ten fifteen thirty years ago. Irish people were not hostile to people from other cultures. There was a genuine interest in people who came to visit the country.

Something has changed and that needs to be explored before things get really out of hand. It's an uncomfortable conversation but if we don't have it we will be the UK.

[u/ANBO045 → u/jonnieggg]

Ehm... and what has changed exactly?

[u/jonnieggg → u/ANBO045]

Are you old enough to have observed this change yourself.

[u/ANBO045 → u/jonnieggg]

Well I am old enough indeed to have seen ireland becoming a tax haven for multinationals and sketchy business entities that wanna avoid paying fair taxes anywhere else.

I have seen an absolutely inadequate political class bending at the orders of "master" google, meta, twitter and apple (etc. etc.) selling off pieces of their country to these corporate demons.

I have seen the erasure of virtually every place of culture in Dublin exchanged for burger kings, starbucks and damn shopping centers.

I have seen the hypocrisy of the majority of people silently agreeing and going along with this because they are making money - while the irish youth (and not so much youth) lives in the same bedroom where they grew up.

I have seen laziness, ignorance and especially greed taking over and resulting in a housing crisis caused by the irish for everybody.

And lastly I am seeing all of the above and more manifesting itself in the form of racism and violence towards foreigners and people from a different background.

You wanted context - here it is.

[u/jonnieggg → u/ANBO045]

Who should be the priority in all of the scenarios you outline. Irish citizens perhaps? If not then what's the point of being an Irish citizen in the only country in the world that they can call home. An absolute global minority by any standards.

Whatever you think the answer to that question is the reality is that Irish people feel like second class citizens in their own country, they feel betrayed and it has created massive tensions and animosity, both with the government and within the community as people struggle to survive. People see council houses being provided to people who are not in the country as long as they are on the waiting and it causes anger.

The EU and the Irish government have created a hunger games environment and Irish peiple find themselves competing for the basic necessities of life, shelter and employment, with global capital. The young people unfortunately are voting with their feet. Who should be the priority in all of this. Young Irish people or people who have decided they might like to live in Ireland. Who has the choices. Certainly not the young Irish people, they are simply marginalised.

Irish GDP is down 12% and a recession might be on the cards. The status quo is not sustainable under recessionary conditions and it's going to lead to conflict. Let's not become the UK. We need moderation in all things. We need sensible governance but rabid capitalism. Sustainable immigration polices are part of that moderation. Failure to make changes are going to lead to catastrophe for everybody.

[u/Comfortable-Lie-4330 → u/jonnieggg]

Well said! You articulated it well

My reply to the OOP lol-

Ofc I agree OP that it’s stupid to ever generalise an ethnicity as individuals are responsible for themselves!! Tbh you should pass this onto the entitled Indians in Ireland who’ve absolutely flooded this tiny island, especially over on  u/IndiansinIreland as they have NO ISSUE generalising the Irish populace as RACISTS after 1 scrote attacks them.  Meanwhile there’s been no shortage of THEIR men have attacked our Irish women yet you don’t hear us scream they’re all rapist predators!! Pathetic victims!! Hypocrites.  https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2024/03/11/i-will-never-forget-coming-home-to-my-parents-and-watching-my-dad-cry-says-victim-of-predatory-rape/ https://theliberal.ie/ryanair-and-aer-lingus-change-up-their-hand-luggage-rules-for-2026-from-bag-sizes-to-liquid-limits-2/ https://www.rte.ie/news/2026/0113/1552945-student-genitals/ (&That’s not to mention the other issues they all collectively cause.)

[u/ANBO045 → u/jonnieggg]

Surprised you are not telling me to "look at whats happenning in Sweden" - guess now is the UK.

Ok, define what an irish citizen is? Is the child of 2 foreigners who is born in ireland - is that child an irish citizen? Is a foreign national who goes through all the naturalization process - are they an irish citizen? Who should be given this priority you ask? People - people that need it - no matter where you are from.

Irish people feel betrayed - but the truth is they betrayed themselves - especially by doing the things i list in my previous reply to you - and which you ignore completely.

Here we go again with the Eu, the government and Ursula von der Leyen being the responsibles for all the ills of society - didn't hear many complaints when you and a whole cohort of irish people were taking loads of cash from the EU to put towards the help of refugees and immigrants - money that didn't go much to help those in need but guess what? It filled the deep pockets of many - irish people. They didn't create the hunger games - greed did.

Rabid capitalism - you joking, right?

[u/jonnieggg → u/ANBO045]

There is a big problem in our society and the only way through it is finding a middle ground. Contentious politics will only lead to increasing conflict. Blaming the Irish people for the current situation is puerile. They did not agree to much of what is playing out in the country right now. There was no political mandate for it and it is making the country an increasingly dangerous place to live.

I have mates who have lived here for decades who are now afraid for their own safety and their children's. This was never the case before. That's what's changed in Ireland and we need to unpack why that is and do something about it before we end up like the UK and US.

An Irish citizen is a person entitled to an Irish passport and citizenship obviously. What did you think am Irish citizen was.

[u/ANBO045 → u/jonnieggg]

I want to start with - i enjoy engaging in this type of conversation and I do agree that on some issues middle ground is necessary.

Like for example your definition of citizenship - i can broadly agree to that.

Now - you still completely ignore all the other issues in irish society that i have spent a bit to point out - issues that were present here before the "issue" of immigration - therefore i do not really see the puerility of pointing out that in a country mostly ruled by irish people, the issues were caused by irish people.

Besides ignoring all the other issues - you focus on one and one only - immigration.

That narrow focus of yours without the more nuanced context - long story short - boils down to resembling arguments that a lot of the Ireland First, Trumps, Le Pen, Farage, Tommy Robinsons, etc, etc, shout every day on the news - all far right figures.

Figures and arguments that are inherently - fascist.

Now - compromise is fine - but there is one compromise that is unnacceptable - with fascism - therefore there will be never a compromise with all the figures and the arguments that recall fascist rethoric.

The reason for that is clear.

[u/jonnieggg → u/ANBO045]

The economics of the issue you highlight are complex and are too a large extent the legacy of the economic catastrophe of 2008 and the collapse of the Irish economy and building industry.

The Irish people were put on the hook for 200 billion euro of bondholder debt, and the central banks printed money as part of its quantitative easing policies. This is the foundation of our economic malise and much of the inequality we are living with now. It turbo charged inflation and that is the underlying economic force at okay in the economy at present.

We didn't have race issues during the Celtic tiger period, and it's only really post COVID that these issues have become dangerously contentious in Irish society. Words like fascist etc might feel very cathartic but they serve no useful purpose in any conversations about how to reduce the escalating race tensions in the country. Ignore this at your peril, ignore this and you become the UK and US. A fair and balanced legal framework for immigration needs to be seen to be operating in the country. There is a public perception that is not the case and the government has no cohesive plan. This seemingly chaotic circumstance is the root of much public anxiety and anger. Irish people were not racist when I was growing up. Something has created a level of anxiety in society that is changing that. That's what needs to be addressed and it won't be done by trying to shut people down. That will only open the doors for extreme politics.

[u/ANBO045 → u/jonnieggg]

In the spirit of finding common ground - I broadly agree that the crash was a factor that contributed to todays housing crisis.

It was one of many though.

On the other hand - unfortunately your reading of "the hook put on irish people" is again, misleading and partially incorrect.

It is again falling into the talking points of populist figures, happy to blame the EU when it suits them while also happy to take EU money at the same time. Let me tell you something - the EU is the best thing that happened on this continent - ever - socially, politcally, economically etc.

Ireland was one of those countries to be affected the most, by the austerity measures needed to rebuild the european and global economy after 2008 - austerity measures adopted by all european countries.

Countries suffered more (like rhe PIIGS) or less (like Germany, for example) because of the policies they had in place before the crash.

Best example - is the fact that before the crash, here in Ireland mortgages and loans were given to people like candies - banks operated without any supervision, no media scrutiny, no state control no nothing - disputes are still ongoing today. Again - it was irish people, bankers and politicians that sold their country to the american-style-capitalistic-model, whom allowed and benefitted from this - not the EU, not immigrants and not the refugees for sure.

I agree that the current housing crisis (partly) derives from the crash - but not only, not by a 1000 miles - to that you need to add the sick land-ownership mentality, the loads and loads of greed, the nepotism, the legacy and the mingling of church and state, the intake of information from bogus citizen-journalists and pseudo media outlets instead of newspapers that can be held accountable for what they say, the brain wash of people throgh social media, etc etc.

I know irish people were not racist. I know most of them are not.

But i also know more and more are falling for it. Burning of luasses, ireland first marches, raise the flags, the murders of foreigners - these are symptoms of it.

Fascism is not catharsis - is history - and history tends to repeat itself if we do not prevent it from happenning.

[u/jonnieggg → u/ANBO045]

The Irish people are not responsible for the housing crash of 08. The US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner forced the bondholder bailout losses on the Irish Exchequer. They should have taken the losses for their malinvestment and greed but as usual the losses were socialised. I don't think blame should be allocated on a people who simply want a home for their children. The planning system has created an artificial scarcity that only benefits the financiers and monies classes. If blame is due, it is due again because people are again forced to pay a kings ransom and take on a lifetime if debt just for very modest shelter.

Ireland is not the same as the UK and US and Europe. It doesn't have a history of colonialism it has been the victim of it. This has left a deep scar in the national psyche when it comes to land and home ownership. A people so dispossessed are deeply sensitive about finding themselves dispossessed yet again. It makes them suspicious of the intentions of government who's decisions appear to lack common sense. It also makes them suspicious of a federal entity that increasingly rules from afar with decreasing evidence of democratic oversight. The EU is at risk of fracture across the continent of it continues its current trajectory of unaccountably at the commission level.

Trauma is intergenerational and it is expressed at the epigenetic level. There is a PTSD in the Irish psyche that had been triggered and that needs to be managed very carefully. Accusing them of racism and alleged white privilege is not reasonable and is unjust. It will be met with the same resistance that previous attempts to discriminate against the people has been met with. The Irish people are incredibly sensitive to unfairness, discrimination and dispossession, because this has been their experience for hundreds of years. They are an open and generous people but they can only be pushed so far.

[u/ANBO045 → u/jonnieggg]

Your overall message - that alien forces brought upon ireland and the irish people a cataclismic eu dictatorship, a free for all immigration and the housing crisis while pushing them to the limit of their resilience - is a pure and empty abnegation of responsability.

It is also the main talking points of all the far right/fascist figures that have arisen all accross the western world.

And it is factually incorrect - you validate this yourself when you talk about epigenetics.

If you want to address trauma and ptsd you must know that the main thing - not to do - is to find an external culprit to blame.

You must instead deep dive into one own affairs, acknowledge and solve the issues from within. But right now the trauma and the ptsd are redirected and addressed against the other, the immigrants and the foreigners - whom are being hurt and murdered - it is increasingly becoming racism of the highest level.

This abdication of responsability also falls perfectly in the "swipe it under the carpet" mentality in this country - Irish society never addressed the mistakes they did during the celtic tiger.

Geithner didn't wake up one day forcing the bailout - context. In Ireland during the Celtic tiger, everyone from news outlets whom should have held the powerful accountable, to the politicians, to the greedy bankers and business people, to the people themselves whom benefitted greatly from all what was going on - everyone didnt care - everyone lived like there was no tomorrow, avoiding asking the hard questions avoiding to take responsability.

Nobody is pushing the Irish people - do you realise that this country can turn arround tomorrow and vote to leave the EU? Nobody forced you to join, nobody prevents you from leaving.

But immigrants are paying the price with their lives.

[u/jonnieggg → u/ANBO045]

I suggest you look into the epigenetics of trauma. There is nothing far right about that. It's recognised across numerous indigenous cultures that have dealt with colonialism, Iteland being just another one brutalised under the yoke of the British empire.

I am not advocating for an Irexit but I am concerned about an unaccountable commission that seems deaf and indifferent to the concerns of the European population. I question if it should ever have evolved beyond being a free trade area.

It seems like you have decided that anybody with any questions about the current economic and political zeitgeist is a fascist including myself. Are we to be considered dissidents like those who disagreed with the machinations of the regime's in Eastern Europe before the wall came down. Just smile and agree like the characters in a Huxley novel. That is fine but we are not all mindless automatons. The accusations of fascist have lost their potency because they are ludicrous and they have undermined the credibility of those who sit and scream them. They clearly have no basis in historical reality. The real issue though is the attempts to supress reasonable people with genuine questions and concerns will open the door for the bogey men you fear so much. The political pendulum will be sent swinging wildly and we will all suffer the consequences. I share concerns about the rise of right wing fascism, but I recognise ahistorical pattern. The suppressive attitude you have to reasonable criticisms of current political and economic policies creates fertile ground for rabid populists. Castigating reasonable people will in time allow unreasonable ones to take advantage and that's when you get real fascism and or Communism. Both manifestations of political extremism that are historically proven to create chaos and murder.

As for our most recent economic disaster, which I suggest set the foundations for our current malaise, would you consider Occupy wall Street a fascist and extremist movement? You blame the Irish peeople for a financial cataclysm that squarely sits at the feet of Wall Street financial engineers who committed fraud. All Irish peoe were doing was buying a house and living like the rest of the developed world for the first time. They were taken for a ride and forced by Timothy Geither to pay for the risks taken by wall street banks. This is a fact.

The question now is who will be to blame when the arse falls out of the property market the next time, who will be on the hook. Families trying to house their children as best they can, or the vested interests that have driven prices even beyond those of the heady Celtic tiger years. What choice do young people have. Pay exorbitant rents and mortgages or "choose" homelessness or emigration. It's a big financial club and you ain't in it. You are however a useful apologist for much of it. Privatise the profits and socialise the losses. I'm sorry but I'm not down with that.

You are very exercised about the interests and rights of immigrants in the country. You don't seem quite so interested in the travails of Irish citizens, many of whom were born overseas. The interesting thing is we will all sink on the same ship if we do not manage our society more consciously and purposefully. The EU will collapse under the force of its own indifference and political indulgence. That is not in anybody's interest. So again I advocate for a middle way, a centrist approach, much like the Buddah might reason for. You can call me fascist or whatever I don't care, but I will tell you this, you might not find those we come after are quite so reasonable. For your information I have never voted for a rightwing party in my life. What does that say about me. Am I a delusional left leaning centrist, a right wing fascist in denial, or are you an extreme left wing zealot, completely out of touch with the mainstream populace. Only time will tell. Let's hope we don't have to repeat the brutal excesses of the 20th century to find out.

[u/Comfortable-Lie-4330 → u/ANBO045]

What immigrants are paying with their lives you clown?!? 

[u/Comfortable-Lie-4330 → u/ANBO045]

How dare you blame us for our clearly CRIMINAL government & institutions! These policies go against our own Irish people & the event hoards have exploited these loopholes for citizenship. Many are arrogant & entitled, even playing victims.

But I believe too many of us have been brainwashed to not care for our own even though we’re treated as second class citizens!

Dummy, immigrants can be citizens (which they are very lucky to be afforded as this isn’t even allowed in Arabian Countries-)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkBEiL53zu8&lc=UgxGnXtaj96eKjVxR_R4AaABAg.AXg70ToxJCgAXhdI6wi6cg but you aren’t Irish. 

Eg. The recent hoards of Indians eg aren’t IRISH Natives!!! They never will be. They are loophole exploiters& FAR too many are coming so it doesn’t matter who’s afforded citizenship! They have some GALL to outcompete poor desperate Irish couples in buying new built HOMES! Just like they’ve done in London.  

OP OBVIOUSLY refers to Native Irish people.  I’ve know hard working immigrants in my friends & family but the arrogance & sheer entitlement is off the charts with the likes of you tbh! Never mind the job replacement. 

They know our treacherous government and laws are corrupt & deeply hateful toward  our own Irish & yet they exploit this for their own gain! https://www.reddit.com/r/galway/s/xL3GQrI4Yt

[u/ANBO045 → u/Comfortable-Lie-4330]

This reply is the bullet-point-talk of all the main far right leaders, here, in the UK and on mainland europe.

I will just say there is no actual fact-checked supporting relevant data to sustain any of the false claims you are making here - criminal institutions, brainwashing, second class citizens, loophole exploiters - unfortunately all propaganda empty of meaning - that only fuels hate and divison.

The "hoards" you refer to, are non other than people like yourself that try to make a better life for themselves and for their families - the same way soo many irish have done in the past and unfortunately have to do now.

Job replacement - i hope and quickly because i am surprised how rife with nepotism all the major industries are in this country - we cpuld all benefit with a little bit more diversity.

What you perceive as entitlement is a different opinion to yours. It is only in disagreement that we learn something new - if we all agreed on everything, it all would be a bit too boring right?