Is Ireland a powder keg of racist, anti-immigrant sentiment, ready to explode at any moment? That was certainly the dominant narrative after a night of rioting in Dublin city centre in November 2023 that left a trail of destruction along O’Connell Street.
On that occasion, politicians and elements of the Irish media were quick to blame far-right provocateurs for stoking tension and this was used as a convenient pretext to stress the importance of introducing the strongest hate speech legislation in the EU. Yet when it emerged that many of the Dublin rioters may themselves have been from an immigrant background, the politicians swiftly moved on to other matters.
But while TDs and ministers can afford to decide which issue is going to concern them on a day-to-day basis, the ordinary people of Ireland don’t have that luxury and with the number of people applying for entry into Ireland increasing by 300 per cent in the last five years, tensions are inevitable.
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