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Published: Mon 3 Jun 2024, 12:06 PM


IMMIGRATION DEBATE DISTRACTS FROM REAL ISSUES – MAYO MEP CANDIDATE

Published: Mon 3 Jun 2024, 12:06 PM

The debate around immigration is being used to distract attention from the
immediate concerns people have with housing, health and cost of living,
according to Saoirse McHugh, independent candidate for the European elections in
Midlands North West.

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“Instead of government parties getting hammered for their abysmal decisions on
health and housing, all the frustration is focused on a group of vulnerable
people who are being forced to sleep rough on the streets of Dublin” she stated
this week.

“All we’ve heard for the last two months from politicians is immigration but it
doesn’t come up near as much on the doors, most people are concerned about the
real things that affect them.

The odd person has a problem with immigration but when you examine it, they
usually have some other, major issue, usually in housing or in health, and this
has been weaponised against migrants.”



McHugh’s comments come in the middle of an election campaign which has been
dominated by the immigration question, but she believes this focus has been
driven by fringe elements.

“If we look at when and how this became such a big issue, it was through a
campaign of violence by a new, domestic terrorist movement.

They’ve been burning hotels and buses, harassing library staff and setting up
blockades all over the country, all instigated and orchestrated by a small group
of white supremacists with a lot of support from the US.

Of course, there are issues with processing times and Brexit has added new
challenges but this small group of terrorists have managed to make migration the
number one issue of the election and in doing so, have been able pull the three
main parties towards a harder immigration stance. In this time we’ve seen hate
crime rise by 44%, violent attacks and threats on politicians and canvassers and
a man get killed in Dublin for not speaking English.”

A recent analysis of hashtags used on X, formerly known as Twitter, revealed
that of the posts using the hashtag #IrelandbelongstotheIrish only a quarter
originated from accounts in Ireland with 57% originating from the United States,
something McHugh believes adds to the pressure on politicians.



“This use of foreign accounts to add pressure has worked because so many of our
politicians are so lacking in conviction that they need to follow public
pressure. I understand why Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are okay to allow this
situation to worsen, because it directs anger away from them and onto people
seeking asylum, but Sinn Féin’s position makes absolutely no sense, morally or
politically. They’ve amplified the ‘Open Borders’ conspiracy theory and in doing
so have jeopardised our own soft border and cost themselves a lot of support.
This is political cowardice at its most abhorrent.”

McHugh outlines a number of solutions that are available immediately to deal
with these problems but these require real leadership and conviction.

“We can staff and resource the asylum system properly so people can get on with
their lives, we can get the 160,000 vacant properties in the state into use to
alleviate the housing crisis, we can regulate the social media companies to stop
spreading hate and misinformation and we can crack down on the domestic
terrorists who are inciting violence around the country.

This requires that combination of conviction and compassion that is rare in
Irish politics but the alternative is we keep letting far-right thugs drive us
into some dystopian future.”

Published: Mon 3 Jun 2024, 12:06 PM


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