TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said he doesn’t want to see “politics of hate take hold in Ireland” or a situation where “migrants are blamed for all of the country’s problems”.
He was speaking to reporters at the launch of the North East Inner City (NEIC) initiative’s 2023 progress report.
Since 2016, the Government has invested over €45.7 million under the NEIC Initiative and 2023 highlights include funding of over €930,000 for sports and wellbeing programmes, arts programmes, and cultural events.
Funding of over €760,000 has also been granted for initiatives to support students, training, and employment opportunities.
Varadkar was asked if he was concerned about far-right candidates standing in the next election or of far-right sentiments gaining traction in communities like the North East inner city.
Varadkar remarked that “anyone can decide to run for election” but added: “I’m happy to take anyone on quite frankly who wants to run for election, so no fears in that sense.”
However, he said: “The concern that I do have is, I wouldn’t like to see politics of hate take hold in Ireland.
“And we have seen that in other countries, where migrants are blamed for all of the country’s problems, whatever the problem the country has, whether it’s housing, whether it’s employment, whether it’s crime, even wildfires in one country were blamed on migrants.”
Varadkar told reporters that he would “hate if we got into that position as a country, because we’re a country that’s benefited so much from migration”.
“I was at a citizenship ceremony in the Convention Centre yesterday,” said Varadkar, “seeing hundreds of people become Irish citizens, all of whom were people who came here legally, who’ve worked very hard, who have made a huge contribution to this country.
“I just want to make sure that we’re making the case in favour of migration being a good thing for society, a good thing for our economy, but also reassuring people that it is rules based.”
Varadkar added: “We don’t have open borders, we do have rules, and we do enforce those rules.”
The Taoiseach was joined at the report’s launch by the programme’s independent chair Jim Gavin and by party colleague Minister Paschal Donohoe.
The same question was put to Donohoe, and when he was asked if some communities could be swayed by far-right sentiment, he replied: “I don’t believe they will be taken hold off.
“I believe that North East inner city communities, along with many other communities across our country, realise the huge contribution that many who have come to our country have made.”
While Donohoe noted that migrants have made huge contributions “to our hospitals, our schools, our economy, to our sports”, he acknowledged that “the risk is there”.
However, he added: “I also believe that politicians such as the Taoiseach and myself have made the case for how we can implement our laws well with regard to migration, but also make the case for all of the benefits that an open society and an open economy brings to Ireland.
“I see a lot of recognition of this in this community and we also want to invest in the antidotes to those fears – what we do in our schools, what we do in our open spaces, and that is the work that’s underway in the North East inner city already.”
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