Silly Old Twit

       There has always been racism in Ireland but in the past it has been on a very small scale. This is due in part to the fact that in past few foreigners actually lived here and those that did were generally well educated professionals and they were not in competition for jobs or accommodation with the native population. But in recent times all this has changed. In the last ten years in particular the demographics of Ireland have shifted to a degree that no one could have predicted and if they had they would have been laughed at. There are no reliable figures as to the exact number. The official figure are little short of a joke. A reasonable and fair estimate is probably between 500,000 and 750,000 thought it may be more. Most of these are concentrated in Dublin.
           The word ‘racist’ can and does mean different things to different people so let me define it for the purposes of this post. Racism here means prejudice against any group who may reasonable be called a group in society. This could of course include gay people but I’m leaving them out of this discussion. For those who wish to reinforce their own prejudices this is not the place. If you are one of the many who have made a point of not living in an immigrant neighbourhood and have equally decided that you don’t want to rear your children in a working class neighbourhood but none the less have a compulsion to misrepresent yourself as ‘inclusive’ then this is not the place for you either.
            There are further problems that must be mentioned here also. Tens of thousands of polish immigrants in Ireland will say that they are here so that they can get the money to buy their own property back in Poland for the purpose of renting. Indeed polish immigrants are now the second largest distinct group investing in the housing market here in Ireland. As their stated purpose is to exploit their less fortunate countrymen by charging rent in as much as the market will bear are we to consider them as undesirable aliens?. Morally of course such people are undesirable but most Irish people would find this sort of exploitation as quite acceptable and indeed practice it themselves whenever possible. And then there is the problem of the indigenous population who live in immigrant areas and cannot afford to move out.
         If we think of an immigrant neighbourhood the first thing that strikes us is that most of the indigenous population has moved elsewhere and the first group within that indigenous population to do so are of course the better educated and affluent section the very group who dominate the pro immigration lobby and own the liberal press who support unlimited immigration.  This in not unusual for this group as they would probably have moved anyway to distance themselves from the less affluent there anyway. This is sometimes said to be irrelevant but those who say this are of course the same group who themselves have in the course of becoming media people more often than not made a point of living in a ‘better’ neighbourhood. And this is relevant as this is the culture in which the debate on immigration is held. Of course if those who are left in these places express a wish to get out as others have done they will be labeled racist by those who were the first to act on such sentiments in the first place. It should be noted here that the terms of reference of this debate are decided upon by this group also, ie the very group that will not be immediately effected either way.
          At this point it will I think be helpfull if I explain my own situation. I am not happy with the level of immigration in Ireland. I live in a boarding house where english is the minority language and when I go out and about my business it is the same. The culture I live in is literally foreign to me. This is not something I had a choice about but something that was forced upon me. I lived abroad at one point but returned home as I felt homesick. That is how I feel now but I have nowhere to return to. No reasonable person would dream of forcing me to live in a foreign country but I now find myself in that situation though I have not gone anywhere. The argument that this is now the culture of Ireland and I must adapt to it is not valid as this presupposes that multiculturalism is a valid standpoint which of course it’s not. People should of course integrate into the host society. The fact that a lot of Irish people who went to England chose to live in self imposed segregation does not make it right or desirable and the fact that they did so was little short of an insult to the society that welcomed them. If the truth be known much of this was motivated by a hatred of the British which was itself racist.
                 There is a total lack of morality and truth in most of what the pro immigration lobby say. They have often said to me that Ireland has benifited greatly from immigration. This seems a harmless enough statement but like just about everything they say has to be examined closely. In the first place it implies that I have said something to suggest that I am apposed to immigration which I have not said and indeed would never say as I don’t belive it. What I have in fact said is that I’m apposed to the present level of immigration. Secondly they equate economic prosperity with the well-being of a nation and it’s people and that tells us all we need to know about where they are coming from and even more about their morality. If I suggest that we should take in the same number of people from Darfur as we do from Poland they think it’s a ploy to try to win the argument whereas it actually is something I truly belive in and simply a moral response to the situation that exists. The fact that I have to explain this to them tells us a little more about these people. 
              Let me make my position very clear. I believe that Ireland should at this point be welcoming the weak , the poor and unwanted in the far reaches of this world and not importing young people in as cheap labour. I believe that more of our taxes should go for that purpose. I also belive that we should be prepared to accept a lower standard of living if nessesary to achieve this. I further believe that those who come here should integrate. On the pro immigration side we have a lot of people who are managing to make a profit out of immigration. And this lobby has shown itself to be indifferent to the suffering of those in Ireland who are actually suffering real distress from the present form of immigration.
                     Those who work in the immigration and related support services should do so for the minimum wage thereby freeing up more funds which would be needed to help distressed immigrants. This should not be viewed as a hardship but rather as a privilege. Those who own rental properties should rent at an affordable price and not the market price.
             I have no doubt that at this point I have lost just about all of the pro immigration crowd. I have not made any wild suggestions here and none of this is pie in the sky. If people say they are in favour of limitless immigration then they should be prepared to go well beyond these measures. But they are all morally bankrupt and nothing like this would enter their heads. And this ultimately is the real problem. There can be no serious debate on immigration with the great mass of Irish people and their ‘multicultural’ vanguard. An honest debate requires honest people.
                 There is an election campaign going on in Ireland just now but no political party or lobby group has raised any of the above points nor will they. There is no debate.