By Robert Cosgrave
Describing the racist political climate of 1970s Britain, the Sri Lankan Tamil socialist A. Sivanandan commented that “what Enoch Powell [a Farage-type figure in Britain at the time] says today, the Tories say tomorrow and Labour legislates on the day after.” In Ireland today, the Government follows a similar tack and appears to be taking their positions and talking points on the rights of migrants and asylum seekers from racist rants you might see in certain corners of Facebook or X.
Trumpian campaign
From the start of 2025, there was already a ratcheting up of a Trumpian campaign of very publicised deportation flights, alongside an expansion of what are considered “safe countries” for deportations. Leading from the front in this highly publicised campaign has been Fianna Fáil Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan – who no doubt sees this as his road to leadership whenever Micheál Martin steps aside. To further reinforce this line, minister after minister has trotted out the line that Ireland is somehow a “soft touch” or “easy target” for migration. This line of argument has to be condemned without qualification.
Anyone paying any attention to the last decade of “Fortress Europe” knows what hell so many migrants and asylum seekers have to go through to even get close to Europe, and you could fill a series of books with the criminal conduct of the EU border force Frontex in the Mediterranean Sea – the stuff of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s dreams. All of this before you get to the actual treatment across Europe, with attacks on basic rights and growing numbers of racist attacks.
O’Callaghan has also taken a page out of Keir Starmer’s “island of strangers” playbook with recent claims that the “social cohesion” (one assumes he had to stop himself from saying racial purity) is undermined by the number of asylum seekers, and attacking those who come to Ireland on visas to learn English.
Useful scapegoat
Blaming migrants for the housing crisis is no longer just the purview of the far right. Figures as high up in this Government as Micheál Martin and Simon Harris have both in recent weeks sought to shift blame from their parties’ rotten and worsening record on housing by attacking asylum seekers who become homeless upon being taken out of Direct Provision, as if it is any surprise that the most hard pressed in society, who are de facto prevented from building up any social support network, would end up in such a horrible situation.
This is 100% a conscious and cynical move by both parties to hide their role in creating and perpetuating this housing crisis and the other crises they have created, as far as underfunded public services are concerned. In doing so, they have earned some new fans from the likes of far-right Dublin City councillor Malachy Steenson – so much for their “anti-establishment” credentials.
A particularly vindictive policy is being pursued on the issue of family reunification for migrant workers and asylum seekers. Those who are already dealing with the difficulties that come from separation from their families are now expected to wait three years, and that’s just to submit the application, which, according to Irish Refugee Council figures, can take upwards of 18 months. Income thresholds have also been raised, leaving it, for all intents and purposes, out of reach for migrant workers in healthcare, food and agriculture, transport, and many other sectors. Unite and SIPTU trade unions have correctly condemned this attack on their migrant members and it is essential that the wider trade union movement fights this Government, as well as the far-right, on their anti-migrant agenda.
Oppose racist division
Serious questions, however, must be asked of self-described left parties such as Sinn Féin, who continue down the path of legitimising anti-migrant positions, most recently with Mary Lou McDonald echoing Jim O’Callaghan’s comments on “social cohesion”. Aping these positions will get the left nowhere, and across Europe, we are replete with examples to prove it. Instead, there needs to be a consistent struggle within working-class communities against attempts to scapegoat migrants and asylum seekers for the problems created by the capitalist establishment in this state.
We must condemn the disgusting attempt to demonise those vulnerable people seeking refuge here by the powerful and wealthy, and their far-right minions. We need a united struggle to stand against racism and division, and to demand public homes and services for all.
