EUROPEAN RACE BULLETIN - Institute of Race Relations

has a corrosive burning effect. One man claimed police appliedBenzidine to his genitals. (Independent 19.8.98, RomnewsNetwork/RNC 29.9.98)IRELANDAsylum and immigrationMass hysteria over asylum and immigration –who is to blame?The Irish – given their history of emigration and poverty – perceivethemselves as belonging to a country with a welcomingethos. But now political commentators are questioning this selfperception,condemning politicians and press for fuelling a poisonousracism. Politicians have failed to implement the 1996Refugee Act which extended the Geneva convention to includegender, sexual orientation or participation in trades union activities.And newspaper editors, in some instances, stand accusedof virtually inciting prejudice against asylum-seekers.Meanwhile, Ireland’s first anti-refugee pressure group, theImmigration Control Platform, has been launched.Negligible immigration described as a ‘wavecrashing into Ireland’Statistics suggest that in 1997 net immigration to Ireland was15,000 (two thirds of which was from the EU). Yet such smallnumbers were projected by the press as a wave crashing intoIreland. More ominous still was the mass hysteria generatedafter a 100 Romanian asylum-seekers – mostly Roma – weresmuggled into Rosslare harbour in Wexford. An estimated4,500 refugees live in Ireland. At the beginning of August,1,500 Romanians were believed to be seeking asylum.‘What is unique about Irish racism today is itslink to increased Irish prosperity which, far frommaking society more kind, is having theopposite effect.’were taken to count for running up streets waving welfarecheques, frightening old women living alone and attempting toimpregnate Irish girls because a baby would bring a passport.Statements from Dublin’s three maternity hospitals, suggestingthat refugee birth rates were unusually high, were taken up gleefullyby the media, fuelling fears that the country was beingoverrun by non-ethnic Irish.Analysis: racism linked to prosperitySenator David NorrisIreland – traditionally a country of emigration – is one of themost homogenous societies in western-Europe: 95 per centwhite, Catholic and state-educated. According to Senator DavidNorris, what is unique about Irish racism today is its link toincreased Irish prosperity which, far from making society morekind, is having the opposite effect. The image Ireland now projectsto the world is of a cultural, political and economicdynamo, a forward-looking modern EU state. ‘Now we have theCeltic Tiger and a little bit more prosperity, we’re inclined toguard it more jealously’, comments Norris. People still recall thepast experiences of poverty and emigration and while ‘circumstanceshave changed completely… the emotional framework isstill there’. The Guardian concludes that what is most alarmingabout the situation in Ireland is the attitude of the intelligentsia,the prosperous and the educated who seek to justify hostilitytoward refugees and asylum-seekers with the glib phrase ‘thiscountry is too small’. (Guardian 5.8, 3.10.98, Irish Times23.5.98)Government accused of generating climate of fearand hostilityMinister for Justice, John O’Donoghue emphatically rejectedclaims by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) that thegovernment was fuelling ‘racist poison’ against refugees and asylum-seekers.ICCL had accused officials at ports and airports ofoperating a ‘white Ireland policy’, but O’Donoghue denied this,conceding, however, that there had been some unfortunate incidents.ICCL also accused some backbench parliamentarians ofmaking statements which were close to inflammatory and governmentministers were said to have ‘contributed to a climate offear and hostility towards asylum-seekers in our midst’. InAugust, new legislation to allow boats and aircraft used by stowawaysto be impounded was under consideration, alongsidepenalties for those transporting or employing ‘illegal immigrants’.The French government was asked to crackdown asaccusations were made that Cherbourg port authorities wereturning a blind eye to families hiding inside Irish-bound containers.Despite pleas from business and labour leaders, the governmentrefused to back down on rules which state thatasylum-seekers cannot work while claims are considered.Press portray refugees as welfare spongersThe editor of the Wexford People, Ger Walsh, has denied incitingracial hatred and says that his pages only reflect what peoplefeel. A front-page editorial in the Wexford People accusedrefugees in designer clothes of eating in restaurants and living inposh hotels, all courtesy of the Irish taxpayer. Asylum-seekers27Racism and fascismGovernment establishes advisory committee onraceA Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism hasbeen set up by the government to advise on matters relating toracism and, more specifically, to develop initiatives started duringthe European Year Against Racism. Yet only £20,000 hasbeen allocated to the new group which includes representativesof both government and non-government organisations. (IrishTimes 28.4.98)Dublin: racist attacks on the increaseIRR EUROPEAN RACE BULLETIN • NO 29 • MARCH 1999The Association of Refugees and Asylum-seekers (ARASI) havewarned of mounting racism in Dublin and the police haveadvised asylum-seekers living in some parts of inner-city Dublinnot to go out at night for their own safety. New research suggeststhat travellers and refugees in Dublin city-centre experiencemore racism than those living in the area of Tallaght.At the beginning of April, there were a number of attacks onasylum-seekers in various parts of Dublin. In one incident a 17-year-old Congolese youth needed almost twenty stitches after avicious bottle attack. The Irish Times links the attacks to theconcentration of asylum-seekers in the most deprived parts ofDublin. Frank Buckley of Soccer Against Racism warns of ‘massivetensions’ in many parts of Dublin. While the press attacks