Plea to aid migrants here... not only in US

IT IS hypocritical for TDs to lobby for the undocumented Irish people in the US and not supported the undocumented migrants living in Ireland, the Dáil has heard.

Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins said: ‘The State is being racist in terms of not dealing with the 26,000 undocumented migrants who are living and contributing to our society and country.

‘They may have overstayed their visa but they are now here and embedded and want to contribute to society, so we have to deal with that reality. We campaign for the undocumented Irish in the United States and I think we are hypocritical as a nation and as a State for not dealing with it here.’ He made the comments during a Dáil debate on inclusion and combating racism in Ireland.

Labour TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin echoed his comments. ‘We have to call out Irish America about their support for the current president of the United States. I think we have to call out Irish communities in Britain who are also anti-immigrant, which is so hypocritical,’ he said.

‘How can we go to the United States on St Patrick’s Day and hand over bowls of shamrocks and advocate for undocumented Irish in America and not do the same here.’

Fianna Fáil TD Jim O’Callaghan said online platforms can aid the spread of racist messages. He said: ‘Globalisation and social media can have a very negative impact because it allows for racists to spread their hate online and get into the minds of young impressionable people.

‘Unfortunately, one of the consequences of social media is that people are now compartmentalised into different groups and what algorithms tells them they should read after reading a certain article. It could mean that they are brought further and further into more racist content. It is important young people are given a counter narrative.’

Mr Collins said: ‘I’ve contacted Facebook and numerous providers and they’re simply not equipped or prepared to deal with the prevalence and spread of racism.’

Green Party TD Joe O’Brien highlighted an ‘obvious deficiency’ in the Dáil debate on racism. ‘We’re basically a room full of white men talking about racism, and one woman.

He said TDs should call out other politicians who make racist comments. ‘Some people in the House have used it to get into this House and that needs to be called out. Only a few weeks ago a member of the House used it in a parliamentary question to get attention and that needs to be called out,’ he said.

Mr Ó Ríordáin claimed racism has been used by members of the Dáil to ‘exert power’. He said: ‘We have two members of a governing party who have been on the wrong side of antiTraveller literature controversies – one of them sits in Cabinet. We had a Fine Gael councillor a number of years ago who said he would not deal with black Africans.’

‘Said he would not deal with Africans’