The Immigration Debate

Those who oppose immigration | Enriching Ireland | Before and after the Famine | The American experience

Enriching Ireland?
One argument from supporters of refugees, asylum-seekers and immigrants is that their presence here will "enrich" our country. The argument is, in one sense, patently true: all people are capable of adding something to the community they live in. It is also, however, easily mocked.

Opponents of immigration claim that middle-class liberals can easily look forward to more African restaurants or Asian delicatessens; this is as close as they will get to most newcomers, who won't be living in their communities or competing for their jobs. Some critics even argue that the "enrichment" argument displays a contempt for Irish culture and society as it has existed to date. Why, they ask, does it need enriching? Isn't it perfectly good already?

It is largely in poor and working-class communities that refugees have been housed (often inadequately); those who get permission to stay here will most likely be looking for jobs in the lower-paid manual and service areas of the economy. Even for those working-class Irish people with the money or inclination to shop in the Asian delis, it is hard to argue that their prospects for a decent job or acceptable housing are "enriched" if Ireland takes in more refugees.

One answer to this problem is to insist that the "burden" of integrating immigrants be shared more equitably, across a social and geographic spread. But while it's important to make this point, it is probably impossible to enforce it in a society that is as divided and stratified as ours.

So a more relevant response to this argument is to fight for a different sort of society, one where those at the "bottom" don't have to scrap for meagre resources while the rich live in ignorant comfort; one in which state services are adequate for all those who need them. And, in the meantime, we should work to build contacts and solidarity between working-class communities and the refugees and asylum-seekers who live in them.

This won't immediately end the impression that there is a competition for jobs, housing, etc - immigration always throws up such conflicts. But by putting a human face on the two sides, by building bonds of friendship, it could actually enrich lives. Dublin and Ennis are unlikely ever to achieve the cosmopolitanism of immigrant cities like New York or London. But refugees could help us build up from the foundations of Irish culture, and in doing so help us all to see further.

The Immigration Debate
People on all sides of the immigration debate in Ireland attempt to use the experience of Irish emigrants abroad to support their arguments. But often they rely on inaccurate or incomplete pictures of that experience.

So, those who resent refugees settling in Ireland and claiming social welfare are prone to claim that the Irish "stood on their own two feet" in Britain or America, that "the Irish built" those countries, that - in contrast to today's refugees - our emigrants were prepared to assimilate and make a contribution to their new homelands. More liberal observers, calling for better treatment of refugees, are inclined to say that "the Irish were welcome" in other countries, suggesting that we should return the compliment. Neither set of generalisations stands up to much scrutiny.

"The Irish love to clan together and are content to
live together in filth and disorder, and enjoy their
balls and wakes and frolics without molestation."

But yes, there is something to be learned from the Irish experience, one of the most dramatic of all global migrations of people looking for a better life. The main point is that we're in no position to differentiate smugly between "genuine refugees" and "economic migrants". Some 7 million people went from Ireland to North America from the 1600s to the early 1900s: hundreds of them were rebels and political refugees; perhaps a million, around the Famine era, were in immediate danger of death from famine and disease; but the vast majority were fleeing a dearth of economic opportunities here.

You can argue - as many emigrants have done - that the lack of opportunity was a consequence of English misrule. Even the post-independence exodus in the1950s and 1980s was connected to Ireland's impotence in the face of wider economic forces. However, the same can be said about eastern Europeans and Africans today - and that still doesn't make them "genuine refugees" in the eyes of the law.

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