Malign forces thrive on Government’s failure to take charge of refugee crisis

THIS paper firmly believes that the Government is correct in fulfilling its international obligations in the face of an unjust war perpetrated by a callous dictator. Ukrainians who have come to this country deserve a welcome and a chance at a safe life away from the death and destruction they had no part in inviting upon their country.

However, an inept Government response has turned an initial céad mile fáilte into a hot-button topic that is now being discussed the length and breadth of the country.

This failure to get to grips with the political challenges of a vast influx of temporary and international protection applicants has seen malign online forces capitalise on wrongheaded and incompetent Government strategy.

We have repeatedly called for greater communication, and for allocation of resources to communities that have taken on a large share of the wave of refugees. In the past two years, we have also reported on positive stories of integration in towns and villages that have risen to the challenge and found renewal from fresh blood being infused into ailing communities.

Today, we publish, in as much detail as we reasonably can, figures that show how, for many, this crisis has been an unprecedented opportunity. The sheer scale of the amount of money that has been earned by companies and individuals in the first six months of last year will make for fascinating reading. The top 10 alone have received over €150million, while up to 184 received over €1million apiece.

This will not come as a surprise to many as, in each locality around the country, people will know of the vacant or rundown hotels and other premises that have been sparked into life with the billeting of the refugees.

A failure to grasp the thorny nettle that such large-scale immigration always becomes in every developed country worldwide has led to a series of heinous and violent acts against property. The arson attacks that we have been reporting on for over 12 months now at last seem to be getting the attention that they deserve from An Garda Síochána, but still questions remain over why such serious crimes have yet to result in even one arrest.

The idea that some members of society, who have the facilities to benefit from a policy of ‘stick them wherever we can find a bed’, is one element that is driving the various local protests that have recently emerged, as we saw this week in Roscrea.

The scenes there, unedifying as they were, need to be put in proper context. This is not Roscrea versus Ukraine, but Roscrea versus a central Government that is failing to value the local community in the same way it values the leafy suburbs in which the faceless civil servants who are making these decisions live and socialise.

The necessary changes in Government policy now seem to be being made in the switch to largescale centres that were, in fact, promised in the Programme for Government back in 2020.

The false dichotomy that presents this as disadvantaged rural and urban Ireland versus refugees must be viewed for what it is. The State, however, must also act firmly against the sinister far right elements that are stoking up such tensions, and any suggestion from the Garda that these acts of violence are sporadic and not centrally connected should be seen for what it is – an utter nonsense.

It is time for this Government, and the Garda commissioner, to get real, and quickly.