Daily
Ireland recently published a letter by Cathal
Mac Murchada; in it he claimed if Ireland does not
stop the inward flow of Asylum Seekers/economic
migrants, then the Irish people might become a minority
in their own land by the year 2050.
I
have no gripe against the newspaper for publishing
the letter, after all a newspaper's letters page
is there to reflect the opinions of the paper's
entire readership, and there is little doubt these
types of ill thought through anti-immigrant tirades
have become a fact of life these days, not only
within Ireland, but also throughout most of the
nations that make up the European Union. Right wing
politicians and their accomplices in the media have
manipulated the unease sizeable sections of the
general public feel over immigration, their reason
being to create a peg on which to hang their reactionary
politics. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than
within the United Kingdom during the current general
election campaign, where the Conservative Party
leader Michael Howard has placed immigration at
the top of his party's somewhat flimsy election
manifesto. Something similar happened in the Republic
of Ireland during the Citizenship
Referendum of 2004.
Thus one can hardly be surprised that much of this
muddle headed reactionary nonsense has seeped down
to the street; these days it is not uncommon to
hear racism dressed up as caring words for one's
country's future and that of its people. Nevermind
that the vast majority of those politicians who
proclaim the country's health and education system
are becoming clogged up due to the influx of workshy
immigrants, whose only purpose in being here is
to milk the welfare benefits system, are the very
same people who whilst in government office cut
the budgets for Healthcare, Education and Welfare
benefits, or failed to provide adequate funding
for the said same.
Rarely are newcomers portrayed in the media in a
sympathetic manner, and they are never placed in
their historical context; instead all we get is
the downside of immigration: these newcomers are
accused of coming into the country so they can sponge
off the state, or they overstretch the health services
and education system. They drive down wages due
to being willing to work for less than locals; nevermind
it is exploitative employers and the failure of
government's departments to act against them which
allows the latter to happen, instead all the blame
is heaped on the least powerful element in the employment
triangle. Finally we have the doomsday theory of
'if this tide of immigrants is not curbed, the country
will become flooded and over-run by them and there
will be the very real possibility of the Irish ending
up a minority in their own country by the
year 2050'. Such anti-immigrant nastiness was
what movie maker Martin Scorsese partly based his
film, ‘The Gangs of New York’ on,
the difference being the newcomers were Irish and
the nation was the USA.
If you think about the 'Irish a minority by 2050'
claim, and give it a moments thought, you will see
it is based on either racism or ignorance. For example,
in Mr Mac Murchada's letter to the Daily Ireland,
he claimed 50,000 immigrants came into Ireland in
the year 2004. His statistics are highly inflated
as he has totally excluded the
fact 34% of newcomers into Ireland in 2004 were
Irish nationals returning home, but no matter
I will ignore this for the sake of my argument and
take his statistics at face value.
If
50,000 newcomers came into Ireland to live in 2004,
by the year 2050 in all probability they would have
become Irish citizens, married, and had children
who themselves would have done the same, making
the offspring of the original 2004 immigrants and
their children as Irish as the next person. Thus
if you follow this logic through subsequent generations,
even if the current levels of immigration was maintained
—and no one is suggesting it should be—
by 2050, only the most recent arrivals could be
described as immigrants, the other newcomers having
become assimilated into Irish society in a comparatively
short period of time.
To
understand how quickly this process of assimilation
takes place, one only has to look across the Atlantic
to the USA, where millions of Irish emigrants chose
to make their home over the course of the past two
hundred years. Some have kept and are proud of their
Irish ancestry, whilst others have left it behind,
however what both groups have in common is their
first allegiance is to the Stars and Stripes and
I'm certain the same will be true of those who have
today chosen to make Ireland their home in the 21st
century, albeit it will be the Irish Tricolour and
the Republic of Ireland to which they give their
allegiance.
Indeed, one of the more pathetic aspects of Michael
Howard's little scam over immigration is the fact
he himself is the son of Jewish immigrant to the
UK. Yet within one generation he has become so much
of an Englishman he has held senior political office
and headed one of the UK’s major political
parties. His parents were fortunate when they were
fleeing fascism; the majority of English men and
women were not as bigoted as their son appears to
be.
Likewise I find something appalling about the Irish
castigating immigrants, for few peoples have experienced
the highs and lows of emigration more than they.
Down the years they emigrated in their millions
to the far corners of the globe, and for much the
same reasons as those who come to there shores today,
famine, economic and political necessity.
Instead
of continuously harping on about the downside of
immigration, perhaps we should look at the benefits
accrued by the host country, Despite the old wive's
tale doing the rounds, few people travel half way
around the world to sit doing nothing, living on
the pittance that is welfare benefits. Sure, they
may need a helping hand at the beginning of their
new life and thankfully the Irish are known for
their generosity and hospitality. Once the newcomers
find work they are soon on their feet and contributing
to the national exchequer via taxation, which is
something that cannot be minimised, as with the
stabilisation of the birthrate and an ever-ageing
population due to improvements in health care, it
is imperative the tax base is widened in all Western
European countries if they are to provide decent
pensions and better healthcare for all of their
people. This can only be done by one of two methods,
raising taxation or increasing the number of people
who pay tax. The former is a non-starter as none
of the main parties, bar Sinn Fein and the Greens,
will go down this road. Thus increasing the number
of tax-payers is the only viable option; as the
birthrate is static, immigration is the only way
to widen the tax base and thus maintain and improve
pensions, health care, education, etc. Thus, this
is the perfect time to allow immigrants to enter
in a controlled manner.
For those who fear overcrowding it is worth remembering
in 1845 Ireland's population was over eight million
yet by 1914 this had fallen to approx. five million.
Today it hovers around the 5.5 million mark for
the island of Ireland as a whole: 4 million in the
republic and 1.5 in Northern Ireland. The most recent
EU survey projected the population would rise, if
current trends continue, to 5.5 million in the Republic
by 2050. If true, this would mean the population
on the island as a whole would still not have returned
to the level of 1845.
However, it is vital governments do not just continue
to allow immigrants into the country without explaining
the pros and cons and hope no one notices their
arrival, as reactionary political elements will
continue to make capital out of people's unnecessary
fears and ignorance on this subject. People have
a right to be told why it is beneficial to them
and their nation to allow newcomers into their homeland.
I'm confident if governments do this, the overwhelming
majority will see the vitality and benefits new
immigrants bring to the nation and will truly begin
to give them a welcome on the hillside.
