The Irish Communist Party (ICP) rejects the argument from racist agitators that immigrants are the cause of society’s problems.
It is ironic that pseudo ‘patriots’ from the South and Loyalist extremists in the North – with the murky figures of ‘intelligence’ handlers hovering in the background can unite in diverting attention away from the real culprits.
For, neither in the North nor in the South have immigrants caused the political, social, or economic crises that afflict this country. Immigrants coming to Ireland are often fleeing destabilised or devastated nations in search of a better life for themselves and their families.
These crises are the result of deliberate institutional decisions made by the Establishment’s ruling parties on these islands. These parties have consistently prioritised profit and market forces over the interests of working-class communities. When dealing with asylum seekers, the establishment parties intentionally outsource all aspects of the process instead of managing it in a humane, efficient, and dignified manner.
This approach not only violates basic human rights but also fuels discontent. It is clear to us that this calculated and cynical handling of migration by establishment parties pushes workers into the arms of the once-insignificant extreme right, deliberately dividing working-class people along lines of ethnicity, race, and religion rather than uniting them by class.
There is a glaring irony in the fact that some of the most vocal anti-immigrant voices in Irish and European politics are the same ruthless warmongers who proudly display Israeli, American, and British flags; States which have played leading roles in the destabilisation of countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Palestine, Ukraine, and Iran. These barbaric Western imperialist wars have directly created the refugee waves from the Global South that now reach our shores.
As a Party, we fully understand the concerns of underfunded communities that lacks properly funded, easily accessible health provision whether that be dentists, doctors, or addiction services. They rightly demand these needs be addressed. We recognise the contradiction that every working-class person sees when establishment representatives claim that there are “not enough resources”, yet have no problem filling the pockets of landlords and property owners of semi-derelict buildings, all while allowing their business allies to profit from state contracts.
The ICP believes that open, honest consultations, combined with strong vocational integration programmes and language classes for asylum seekers, would significantly undermine the far-right narrative. We recognise that misinformation and disinformation thrive in the absence of clear communication and transparency.
We also acknowledge the effect the disproportionate placement of IPAS (International Protection Accommodation Services) centres has in working-class communities. Housing hundreds of people in semi-derelict warehouses or office blocks, with no integration plan or support structures, was always bound to provoke tensions. It must be asked why more affluent areas were not considered.
We commend the efforts of local activists throughout Ireland, who have worked with their neighbours to combat disinformation and racism. But ultimately, the responsibility for this crisis lies with the State.
In conclusion, we firmly believe that the asylum process must not be left to the whims of the market. Asylum seekers must not be “dumped” into communities without comprehensive integration and vocational learning programmes. The right of nations to self-determination has always meant for socialist countries the control of their own borders with appropriate visa regimes.
However, unlike capitalist states, socialist countries did not and do not base entry on the accumulation of profit of the landlord and employer class, but on fraternal solidarity, compassion and a commitment to our fellow human beings to help them in times of crisis.
Housing, healthcare, and education must be treated as a human right for all people, including immigrants, and not as a money making racket for absentee landlords.
We reject all victimisation of immigrants, North or South, and place full responsibility for recent right-wing agitation at the feet of the establishment parties, who have cynically sought to pit working-class people against each other.
May we find strength in unity and compassion for our fellow human beings in the struggle against an unscrupulous system that seeks to impoverish us all.
The average rejection rate for asylum applications has gone from 65% to 80% in the last 3 years of this run.
There are two other schemes, subsity protection and right to remain, these are the grounds that most asylum applicants stay is based on.
So when we say most or many are fleeing war it’s really between 3 out of 10 and 2 out of 10.
There is very little deportation.
It’s important to say this if it’s not about fleeing immediate death then it’s solidarity based on just getting here.
Some may be cool with that but there are 8 billion people on the planet and if pat and Mary ask do you have a number it is a reasonable question.
In line with your government using the market to sort problems the government also do that with different forms of social housing.
People with leave to remain have to be housed, add it all up and landlords are doing very well out of it. That’s the real reason this won’t end. The left think it’s a virtue and business thinks its an opportunity and the right are missing out on the economics.
There is also the simple fact that just as there is a Crumlin criminal who legged it off to Dubai currently before the courts there are also people who skip the law by coming here. People have every right to flag that, can call them bad people all yis want but there common sense won’t let the decision makers away with it.
The asylum process is only one part of the immigration process. EU freedom of and work and working visas.
Apparently freedom of movement in the EU is not an absolute right. Apparently you have to be able to support yourself. The Joseph puska case the man was in the country for over a decade. Perhaps we are very generous or perhaps landlords win in cases like that were the rules aren’t followed. Unfortunately poor Ashling Murphy lost. The public can see the connections but their arguments aren’t getting articulated.
Working visas are another means of entry. The state publish the number of visas it issues every quarter on the department of enterprise website.
This is public information. It is ok to question it. It is ok to ask out of a trading block of over 700 million why is this state giving 190 working visas up to July this year for agriculture forestry and fishery jobs. You know why, it’s to suppress wages.
There are also deeper questions in this scheme. How many Irish people actually benefit from Facebook Google et all being based in Dublin if they need to bring in workers from outside Dublin.
We know Irish legal and accounting do well out of this structure but if the rest of society don’t get any value from it is their a point that they can freely be pissed at paying the inflationry costs of it. Is it ok for their political advocates to talk about it or is people talking about their material conditions taboo now as well.
The standard of intellectualism in Ireland is drivil, it’s absolute drivel. Rather than blaming the government or the far right, the Irish left have to take responsibility for themselves and not be afraid of words.
Just for a minute take all Irish people out of the equation.
The brazilian coming here on a student visa to ‘study English’ is competing for a place to stay and a job with the brazilian who comes on the same Visa next week.
In this senario The business man has more profit from rent and stagnant or less expenses in wages
The worker has less disposable income through higher rents and less wages.
The business man has avoided inflation, the worker is smacked in the mouth with it.
But no left wing party will call for those student visas to be paused and they will all make a virtue of it.
It’s either nievity or they have their hand in.
That’s the state of play, location of asylum centres is a tiny part of it all.
Actually just to add to this.
We are living in a time when their is less risk and similar level of profits for organised crime to move people as drugs.
Factor that into theory.
There are a lot of winners out of this. Black and white hat people smugglers, landlords business. But there are also people dealing with inflationry pressures as a consequence. If you are indifferent to that well fair enough but you stand in the same place as the social democrats.
The last sentence of this article touches on a point too often omitted when migration is discussed. Particularly the words, “compassion for our fellow human beings in the struggle against an unscrupulous system that seeks to impoverish us all.”
A few years ago, the Irish government shut down its own Agency for Personal Service Overseas (APSO). The government recognised that a mix of problems in the Global South caused or maintained poverty and associated conditions. It funded Irish men and women with the appropriate skills to work in partnership organisations there to contribute in the struggle against poverty.
Then in keeping with neoliberal thinking APSO was done away with. A legal firm was brought in to give high sounding justification for this. A report was written – gosh! The government saved some cash. That was decades before Trump took compassion destruction. to a new level.
How best to tackle opposition to people seeking a better life in Ireland, or elsewhere, is question that demands action.
Compassion is a word too often assumed but seldom elaborated by the radical/ revolutionary left. Education, including self-education, in this sphere means cooperation with others on common ground. Unity may or may not follow. But steps toward a better world can be taken
As Irish playwright Samuel Beckett said, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better,”
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