Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
On Monday, anti-immigrant protesters attacked police officers, threw petrol bombs and set vehicles alight at an old paint factory earmarked to house up to 550 asylum seekers in Dublin.
The Gardaí, Ireland’s police force, used pepper spray to disperse the crowd and made over a dozen arrests.
The unrest in the northern suburb of Coolock is symptomatic of a rising tide of anti-immigrant sentiment in Ireland that’s become increasingly extreme over the past 18 months, as people face a stretched healthcare service, housing shortages and a cost-of-living crisis.
Aoife Gallagher, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said this discontent has created “a perfect us versus them narrative” that the far right can exploit.
A protest camp has blockaded the north Dublin site since March. On Monday morning, violence erupted when a government-contracted provider attempted to begin renovating the old Crown Paint factory.
Unrest. In November, Dublin saw its worst riot in modern history after rumours spread online that a man who stabbed three children outside an inner-city school was an Algerian migrant. In the lead-up to the unrest, right-wing figures, as well as celebrities such as MMA fighter Conor McGregor, issued calls to action. “Ireland is at war,” McGregor tweeted.
But dozens of other, smaller protests have been taking place across the country since late 2022, when locals in East Wall, Dublin, objected to a former office building being used to house 380 refugees.
In Roscrea in Tipperary, the town’s only hotel was closed down in January to house 160 refugees. The town, which had a population of 5,542, houses a further 491 Ukrainians and other refugees. “Our doctors are overburdened, our Garda station closes at 4:30 every day… how are we supposed to cope with more people?” a local publican told RTÉ.
In the first half of 2024, 10,604 people applied for asylum in Ireland; almost double the number that applied in the same period last year. Integration minister Roderic O’Gorman estimated last week that by the end of the year there could be between 21,000 and 22,000 applicants.
A perfect storm. It’s not fair to categorise everyone who participates in these protests as far-right; but genuine issues, such as a stretched healthcare service and a cost-of-living crisis, are being weaponised.
One of Ireland’s most acute crises is a housing emergency caused by a deficit of between 212,500 and 256,000 homes. High inflation means private rentals are more expensive, making it harder to save for a deposit to buy a home. The latest census shows that over 440,000 young adults – 41 per cent of people aged 18 and 34 – are living with their parents.
Platforms such as X, Gallagher says, have become a “playground” for agitators who frame the influx of migrants as an existential threat to Irish society. The hashtag “Ireland is full” regularly trends on X, and appears on signs at many of the protests.
What’s more… The momentum behind the anti-migrant movement has given fringe parties a foothold in Irish politics. June’s local elections saw candidates from two of Ireland’s four far-right parties elected, as well as a smattering of hardline independents. The real test will be in Ireland’s next general election, due before next March.
