What Ireland president said on migration, online hate after racist attacks on Indians: ‘…to lose a part of ourselves’
President Michael D Higgins said “shared human experience” should inform how we must treat “those who have come to make their lives here”
In his condemnation of recent racists attacks on Indians in his country, Ireland President Michael D Higgins made some key points about migration and its role in society.
“Ireland has long been shaped by migration, both outward and inward. Those who left our shores carried our culture and values into faraway lands, often depending on the generosity of strangers,” his statement read.
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He said “shared human experience” should inform how we must treat “those who have come to make their lives here (in Ireland)”.
“To forget that is to lose a part of ourselves,” he stressed.
He mentioned social media platforms among the shared space that “should never be poisoned from messages of hate”.
He further expressed worry for what he called “the most fundamental and enduring instincts of Irishness… hospitality, friendship, and care for others”.
On the Indian community, in particular, he wrote: “We are all mindful of the immense contribution this community has made, and continues to make, to so many aspects of Irish life, in medicine, nursing, the caring professions, in cultural life, in business and enterprise, to cite just some. Their presence, their work, their culture, have been a source of enrichment and generosity to our shared life."
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His detailed statement came after at least two major incidents: one in which a six-year-old girl of Indian origin was assaulted and racially abused; the other an assault on an Indian taxi driver by two passengers who told him to "go back to your country".
As security worries mount, one of the country's largest celebrations of Indian culture was postponed.
The Ireland India Council announced: "We feel that the situation at the moment for holding India Day is not conducive.
‘Extreme-right propaganda’ on the rise, says cultural council chief
The association's co-chairman Prashant Shukla said in an interview that “extreme-right propaganda” is on the rise, and there is a false perception being fueled that immigrants are to blame for Ireland's housing problems.
President Higgins' comments, thus, come at a time also when far-right populist figure and former ring fighter Conor McGregor has announced to contest the Irish presidential elections later this year on an anti-immigration stance.
McGregor, 36, has met Donald Trump at the White House and is one of many European right-wing allies of the US president. “Ireland is at the cusp of potentially losing its Irishness,” McGregor has said, claiming that rural towns in the country are “being overrun by immigrants”.
Immigration has indeed become an issue ahead of the elections, though still not at the front of people's minds, the BBC reported. But for the first time ever it is a consideration, said the report, analysing the mood a year after riots broke out in Dublin.
The Dublin riots, sparked by the stabbing of three children and a staff member outside a primary school in November 2023, led to fake news and disinformation on social media that demonised asylum seekers and other immigrants.
